LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, j 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



REST DAYS IN JOURNEYS ABROAD. 



REST DAYS 



Journey to Bible Lands 

AND OTHEK JOITBNEYS ABBOAD 

SERMONS 

PREACHED IN THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE GLOBE 

(Li J? 

By sAdRYDEN PHELPS, D.D. 



WITH PREEATORY NOTES AND ILLUSTRATE 

JAN 28 1887 



WARD & DRUMMOND 116 NASSAU STREET 
Christian ^metarg #ffttes 

HARTFORD I NEW HAVEN 

336 Asylum St. | 44 High St. 

188T 



-3 



PREFACE. 



ABBATHS abroad are true Rest Days to Christ- 
ian travelers. They are full of pleasant memories. 
One may count it as a unique experience to have 
preached in such widely separated localities, and this 
book is to me a precious memorial of those occasions 
and of the dear friends who were with me, several of 
whom are now enjoying the Rest Days of Heaven. 
"While repeating to my congregation the sermons 
preached during my first tour, prefacing them with 
the circumstances under which they were spoken, it 
was suggested that they be published. To give 
something more of size to the volume, as well as 
interest, the preliminary notes have been included ; 
and then, to add still more of matter and variety, the 
fancy took me to append to the discourses original 
hymns or verses, bearing on the same subjects, 
and to insert also some illustrations of places or 
objects at or near where the sermons were delivered. 
Great delay in bringing out the book, for lack of 
leisure for it, has allowed me to add three sermons 
preached during subsequent tours to Europe. The 
work is a sort of appendix to my "Holy Land, with 
Glimpses of Egypt and Europe," which was so 
favorably received as to reach a ninth edition. 

s. d. p. 

New Haven, Dec, 1886. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction ------ 5 

A Pastor's Journey and Absence from his Flock 7 

Prefatory Notes precede each Sermon, giving the circum- 
stances under which it was preached. 



SERMON I.— ATLANTIC OCEAN. 
Sojourning and its Perils 17 
1 Peter 1. 17. — Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. 
Hymn : The Beacon Light - -- -- --31 

Illustration : Entrance to the Harbor of St. Johns 33 

SERMON II.— DUBLIN, IRELAND. 
Pilate's Question — Ours - - * - - 39 

Matthew xxvii. 22. — What shall I do then with Jesus 

which is called Cnrist? 
Hymn : What Shall I Do with Jesus? - - - - 56 

SERMON III.— MEDITERRANEAN SEA. 
Our Great Refuge - - - - - - 65 

Romans viii. 31. — If God be for us, who can be against us? 
Hymn : Hymn of Trust ------- 82 

Illustration : St. Paul's Bay - 60 

SERMON TV.— RIVER NILE, EGYPT. 
The Tearless Land - - - - - - 91 

Revelation xxi. 4, — And God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes. 

Hymn : No Tears in Heaven ------ 112 

Illustration : Pyramids and Sphinx - - - 88 



CONTENTS. 



SEEMON Y. — 31 T. ZION, JERUSALEM. 



Christ Alone - 123 

Isaiah lxiti. 3. — I have trodden the wine-press alone. 

Hymn : Gethsernane - - _ _ 145 

Illustration : Jerusalem from the Northeast - - - 116 

Illustration : Olive-Trees in Gethsernane - 147 



SEEMON YI. — NE W HA VEN, CONN 
The Lord Our Home ----- 153 

Psalm xc 1. — Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in 

all generations. 



Hymn : The Heart's Home - - - - 169 

Illustration : Interior Yiew of the Church - 171 

SEEMON VII— EDINBURGH. 
Opposite Sides of the Pillar of Cloud and 

Fire - - - - 177 

Exodus xiv. 20. — It came between the camp of the 
Egyptians and the camp of Israel ; and it was a cloud 
and dar-ness to them, but it gave light by night to these. 
Hymn : The Pillar of Cloud and Fire 195 
Illustration : West Side of St. Giles's - 197 

SEEMON VIII.— ATLANTIC OCEAN 
The Call and the Response - - 203 
Psalm xlii. 7. — Deep calleth unto deep. 

Lines: A Memorial - - - - - - - 217 

Illustration : White Star Steamer Adriatic - 219 

SEEMON IX.— AT SEA. 
Christ's Work for the Human Race - 225 

John i. 9. — That was the true light, which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world- 



INTRODUCTION. 



ONG- had it been my desire to make the 
journey out of which this book has grown. 
The Lands of the Bible had for me, from 
my earliest study of the Sacred Volume, an inde- 
scribable charm. Their mountains and valleys, 
their lakes and rivers, their cities and villages, 
their thoroughfares and pathways, and most of 
all, the historic, hallowed and tender associations 
connected with them, made them in my mind 
memorable and dear above all other localities on 
earth. To look upon them with my uwn eyes, 
to view objects that such other eyes had seen, to 
tread where such other feet had trod, and to 
actually visit places where the most wonderful 
a id significant events in our world's history have 
occurred, were a golden dream whose realization 
might indeed be a marked epoch in one's life. 

At length the time for the journey came. It 
was taken midway of a pleasant and prosperous 
pastorate of twenty-eight years with the Church 




6 



REST DA YS IN A JO TJRNEY, 



where I was ordained. It was after an unprece- 
dented religious awakening and interest among 
that people, which had continued for more than 
two years. My dear fljck, aware of my need of 
rest and recreation, very kindly acceded to my re- 
quest for time to visit Europe and the East, and 
most generously provided for its necessities. 
They gave me such leave of absence as I wanted, 
continued my salary as pastor, also took upon 
them the supply of the pulpit, and at a pleasant 
gathering just before my departure, presented to 
me a liberal purse. All they asked for these to- 
kens of their noble kindness and affection was a 
monthly letter with some account of my travels. 

Arrangements being completed, the Sabbath 
before I was to sail had come. It was a beautiful 
day in June. The audience-room of the Church 
was filled to repletion. All the services were 
adapted to the occasion. The hymns preceding 
and following the discourse were — " My days are 
gliding swiftly by," and " When shall we all meet 
again?" The Scriptures read were Psalm cxxii. 
and Philippians ii. The theme and text are here 
given, with some selections from the sermon, 
which was not a full manuscript. 



INTROD UCTION. 



7 



A PASTOR'S JOURNEY AND ABSENCE FROM 
HIS FLOCK. 

Acts xx, 22. — And now, behold, T go... unto Jerusalem, not know- 
ing the things that shall befall me there. 

Rom i. 10. — Making request, if by any means now at length I 
might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto 
you. 

Phil. ii. 12, 13. — Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always, not 
as in my presence only* but now much more in my absence, work 
out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God 
which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 

When a person goes from home, to be away for 
any considerable time, three things are likely to 
absorb his attention. The farthest limit or chief 
spot of his journey rises prominently before him; 
then he considers his outward and homeward wan- 
derings or travels ; and at the same time his thoughts 
cling with a deep and sacred interest to those whom 
he leaves at home. These three things are contained 
in my text. 

Now, after having cherished the desire so long, 
and thought and dreamed of it so much, am I really 
to have my feet stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem ? 
Shall I see and climb the mountains that are around 
about the Holy City ? Shall I visit the places where 
the prophets lived ? and above all where Jesus 
walked and taught and died? Shall I go to Olivet, 
Gethsemane, Bethany, Bethlehem, the Jordan, the 
Sea of Galilee, Nazareth, and Jacob's Well ? Shall 
I visit battle-fields where Joshua led the hosts to 
victory, where the sun stood still upon Gibeon and 
the moon in the vale of Ajalon ? and places where 
Abram dwelt when he came from Ur of the Chaldees ? 
I hope on my way to Palestine to visit the more 



8 



BEST DA YS IN A JO TJRNEY. 



ancient country and antiquities of Egypt ; the land 
where the Pharaohs reigned ; where Moses was 
cradled and wrought miracles ; places and scenes of 
the cruel bondage, and those wonderful monuments, 
the Pyramids. Possibly I may go awhile in the 
track of the released Israelites, as they crossed the 
Eed Sea, and entered the desert and journeyed by 
the wells and palms of Elim, and the sacred moun- 
tains of Sinai. To reach these distant localities I 
purpose to go first to England and various countries 
of Europe. I had hoped to make this journey 
before now, and should probably have gone a year 
earlier, but for the precious and wonderful religious 
interest God in His rich mercy has permitted us to 
enjoy. It is just three years this month since the 
gracious work commenced, and has continued with 
remarkable power and results, while the Spirit's 
influence still lingers with us. How could I go 
under such circumstances ? How could I leave the 
dear converts and the church ? But now, having had 
some experience, they will I trust remain stedfast. 

It is not mere idle curiosity or disposition to 
rove abroad that induces the journey. There is a 
pleasure, and I enjoy it greatly, in visiting scenes 
and objects in nature and art, beautiful and sublime, 
and of which no adequate idea can be gained but 
by travel and personal inspection. 

One purpose of the tour is change and rest, and 
the hope of mental and physical invigoration. I do 
not go as an invalid. I am not suffering from any 
disease. Still, after more than fourteen years of 



IN TROD UCTION. 



9 



service in the ministry in one place, it is not strange 
that there should be some feeling of exhaustion. 
Mental cares and spiritual anxieties, with a too 
small allowance of physical exercise, after awhile 
wear and weigh upon one with a pressure that 
cannot well be described. Eest, travel, recreation — 
getting away on a sea-voyage perhaps, into new 
scenes of interest and grandeur — away from pressing 
responsibilities in a measure — having the mind 
diverted, interested, and the body exercised by 
travel and refreshed by an atmosphere to which it 
is unaccustomed; this is what is needed — this, if 
anything, will bring a rejuvenation to body and 
mind, both grateful and inspiring. Some of our 
best ministers, who have early broken down and 
gone to their graves, had they taken rest and travel, 
might have had their lives and usefulness prolonged. 

Another prominent object of my contemplated 
journey is improvement in knowledge and experi- 
ence. Who is sufficient for these things? — the 
things of the Christian ministry — said Paul. No 
calling has greater demands, or more use for all the 
talents and acquirements one may possess. Minis- 
ters have to deal with men — with human minds and 
consciences in all their conditions and phases. And 
there is no way to study men so well as to mingle 
with them and see them as they appear in different 
nations and degrees of civilization. 

The Bible is the minister's great text-book. 
Many of its truths are modified or explained by 
local allusions, and there is no way to get this 



10 



REST DA YS IX A JO URXEY. 



knowledge so well as by visiting and inspecting the 
sacred places of the Bible. "We are often impressed 
as powerfully and beneficially through our sympa- 
thies and feelings as through our intellects. Let a 
man go to a battle-field where the dearest rights of 
man were contended for, and he will learn the better 
to appreciate his civil blessings. So let one visit 
Gethsemane or Calvary, and he will have impressions 
that no sermon could produce. His heart would 
be made better aijd be brought into deeper sympa- 
thy with the great truths associated with such 
localities. I would not go if I did not believe it 
would be better for my work as a minister, and 
better for you at length, in my future ministrations, 
if the Lord shall permit them longer here. So 
much for the purpose and objects of the journey. 

In regard to the tour itself, I desire as the Apostle 
did that I may have a prosperous journey by the 
will of God to come to you. I shall no doubt be 
more anxious to come back than I am to go out. 
It is one of the severest trials I have ever experi- 
enced to tear myself away from this dear peojxle 
and these loving hearts ! But I cannot speak of 
this. '*And now, behold, I go unto Jerusalem, not 
knowing what shall befall me there." Every con- 
siderable journey has its perils. We know not 
what is before us. The ocean, the land, the civil- 
ized and the barbaric country, all have their dangers. 
And where can we go or stay, at home or abroad, on 
the wave or the shore, that we are not more or less 
exposed to perils — to sickness, to calamity, to death. 



INTRODUCTION. 



11 



He who goes abroad, and there to be ill and to die, 
might not have been exempt at home. Disaster 
may come here as well as there. To the Christian, 
wherever he may be, God is near, and Heaven is as 
easily reached from one point as from another. 

I go in hope of the Divine blessing. God is our 
refuge. Under the shadow of His wings we rest. 
He holds the winds and the waves. He can turn 
the hearts of men. It is blessed to trust in Him, 
and cast every care on Him who careth for us. So I 
shall go with a cheerful heart, committing my ways 
to the Lord who has promised to direct my steps. 

But " to come to you," to see your faces again, 
to hear your voices, to press your hands in which 
_oving heart-beats are felt — this will be a constant 
hope and inspiration. The lines have fallen to me 
in pleasant places. Kare is it, I think, that a pastor 
has such a people — so kind, so affectionate, so gen- 
erous, so disposed to overlook his faults, so anxious 
to render him tokens of their regard and favor. 
Your liberal arrangements for my journey have 
overwhelmed me with a sense of your affection, and 
excited grateful emotions beyond the power of 
language to express. My prayer is and shall be 
that God may reward you, dear brethren and friends, 
with His richest blessings. I may see many persons 
and faces, but none will be so pleasant as yours. I 
may enter many churches and grand cathedrals, but 
no sanctuary will have such attractions as this. 
May our Heavenly Father spare us to meet again ! 

Let me now, in closing, speak a little of what I 



12 



BEST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



feel in regard to your welfare in my absence. This 
is a matter of deep solicitude on my part. Your 
spiritual prosperity will give me the highest joy ; 
or, if it be otherwise, the deepest sadness. With 
you, as individuals, as a church and congregation, 
the responsibility mainly lies. If you hold on, 
united and faithful in all well-doing, God will bless 
and keep you. There must be resolution, activity, 
and self-denial for the sake of the cause. Each 
must fill his place. Paul said the Pliihppians in his 
absence were more obedient than in his presence. 
So may it be here. Work out your own salvation each 
with a keen sense of personal responsibility, and 
an implicit reliance on the Spirit and grace of God. 

Thus shall the church continue to prosper, the 
congregations shall be kept full, and if God shall 
permit us to meet here again I shall find things on 
my return as well as if not better than I leave them. 

We may not, very likely we shall not, all meet 
on earth again. It becomes us to be ready at all 
times for the coming of the Son of man. Let the 
aged pilgrims, those midway along the course, and 
the young converts, all, be true and faithful. Let 
this be your spiritual home. Be loyal to Christ and 
the church. Be in your place whoever may be in 
the pulpit. 

Dear friends, who have not yet embraced the 
gospel, it gives me pain to leave you unconverted. 
If I should never address you again, let my last 
lingering word be an invitation to come to Christ. 



SERMON I. 

SOJOTJENING AND ITS PERILS, 



Atlantic Ocean. 



PREFATOKY NOTES. 



JUST before taking passage at New York for Liverpool 
on the Inman Steamship City of Washington, it was 
learned that the Edinburgh had been partially wrecked 
by running upon an iceberg in the fog near Newfound- 
land, but by great exertion she had been got with safety 
into the harbor of St. Johns, and that our steamer was to 
stop there and receive her passengers. Of these were 
Mrs. Annie M. Douglas, a member of my church in New 
Haven, with her little son and a sister. It happened now, 
as we could not leave on the same vessel, as had been 
desired, that we should meet on the way and cross the 
ocean together. 

After we left St. Johns with this large accession to our 
ship the topic of conversation and inquiry for a time was 
the disaster to the Edinburgh, with thrilling accounts of 
the collision, and the excitements and perils of the hour. 
Among the narrators of the scene were Mr. E. P. Ham- 
mond, then a theological student, now the distinguished 
revivalist, and Hon. A. H. Laflin of New York State, since 
a member of Congress, and late Naval Officer at New 
York. So dense was the fog that the iceberg was not seen 
till they were right upon it. Higher than the masts of 
the ship it rose, a truly magnificent object, but they only 
caught a glimpse of it, and were congratulating them- 
selves on their escape, when they found to their dismay 
that the steamer was sinking. A rush was made for the 
boats. The captain seized his revolvers and threatened 

15 



16 



REST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



to shoot the first person who jumped into a boat. He set 
the men to pumping and bailing, and had provisions pnt 
into the boats which the women were to enter first by lot. 
All expected that the ship would soon go down. While 
the women sat with their wraps on, waiting to be called 
for the boats, little Arthur Douglas, unconscious of dan- 
ger, was cheerfully singing, ' 6 There is a happy land, far, 
far away." " Do stop him !" said some. "No, no," said 
his mother, "let him sing." As the sea was calm, and 
the steamer had water-tight compartments, two of which 
were stove in by the collision, and St. Johns was but one 
hundred and fifty miles distant, by incessant efforts they 
were saved. How character comes out at such a time ! 
Timid Christian women were calm and trustful ; to one of 
them a sailor came and said, ' ' My good lady, will you 
pray for me?" At the same time a passenger was heard 
swearing at the iceberg and using most horribly profane 
oaths. Another, a young man to whom I was introduced, 
was so wrought upon by the disaster that it was the means 
of his conversion to Christ. 

Soon the Sabbath came, a pleasant day. The captain 
read the English church service in the morning, and the 
following sermon was preached in the afternoon substan- 
tially as here given. Many were present and very atten- 
tive. Prayers were offered by Rev. Dr. A. D. Gillette of 
New York, and Rev. J. S. Easton of Ohio. Two Scotch 
psalms were sung, being lined off. 



SOJOURNING AND ITS PERILS, 



Preached on the Steamship City of Washington, on the 
Passage from New York to Liverpool, 
Lord's Day, June 26, 1859. 



I Peter i. 17.— pass the time of yotjs sojouknixg here in feab. 

(C^OME of you have recently been in great 
peril ; brought face to face with what 
seemed the end. of your life voyage ! 
But you were mercifully delivered. It may very 
well be supposed that it is not without some 
apprehension that you and we all commit our- 
selves once more to the contingencies of an ocean 
passage — to a brief sojourn here. Our condition 
and relations may well awaken thoughts and 
suggest lessons of the way our souls are sojourning 
on the sea between the eternities. 

The Apostle is speaking of the importance of 
holy living. He urges this upon his brethren from 
the character of Him who had called them into 
His service, quoting the command to His ancient 
people : " Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if ye 



IS 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



call on the Father, who without respect of persons 
judgeth according to every man's work, pass the 
time of your sojourning here in fear." Be careful 
that you mistake not your own character, that you 
fail not of that holiness which secures the fellow- 
ship of God, and admits to the bliss of heaven. 
Peter urges the same thing, also, from the 
purity of Him who had redeemed them by His 
precious blood. Such is the text in its connection. 
Such is its force as a Divine caution. It contains 
also truths and intimations that deserve attention. 

I. It declares us to be sojourners. Our present 
abode is but temporary. We are here only for a 
little time, and then pass on. It is a vivid picture 
of our earthly life, so transient, so soon over. We 
stay for a brief period, like one who visits a place, 
mingles in its scenes and with its people, and then 
departs ; like a traveler who stops for a few hours 
or days in a place, and then goes on his way, and 
is seen there no more ; like ourselves who meet 
and mingle and part on the short passage of 
an ocean steamer. David, from his royal throne 
and after a long reign said: "We are strangers 
and sojourners as were all our fathers; our 
days on the earth are as a shadow, and there 
is none abiding." Such is the universal experi- 
ence. The first man, sinning, became a sojourner 



SO JO UfiNING AND ITS PERILS. 



19 



He could not remain in Eden. He could not 
stay in the world. He filled up his years and went 
away. Methusaleh, whose life was the longest of 
mortals, was only a sojourner. At length it was 
written of him, " and he died." His was a great 
age — almost a thousand years — how long it seems ! 
But it was comparatively short. Few were the 
objects that filled his history; few the changes he 
witnessed. A life of sixty years now, with their 
varied and stirring events, is really longer than 
his. Noah, though he survived the deluge — the 
man of tw T o w T orlds— was a sojourner. Moses and 
Joshua, the great leader and captain of Israel, in 
turn surrendered their commands and took leave 
of the hosts they had led. The Tishbite prophet, 
wondrous as was his power, and though spared the 
pain of death, was but a sojourner. God's chariot 
took him up from earth. All the great names of 
the past, immortal in the books of sacred or secular 
history, but represent sojourners here. They 
passed their time, and were not. Our blessed 
Saviour was a sojourner, " a poor way-faring Man 
of grief." He died. And though the feet of His 
risen body pressed the earth again, it was only for 
a little, and He ascended up from Olivet. But 
that or other mount shall no more feel the pressure 
of those feet till at the last day He comes for judg- 
ment in the clouds of heaven. The Pilgrim Fath- 



20 



BEST JDA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



ers, Brewster and Winthrop and Williams were 
sojourners only. Such was Washington. He 
could not stay to witness the rising career of the 
country he delivered. The great gospel preachers 
of the past ; sounding the trumpet-peal of redemp- 
tion in the ears of men, and waking the slumber- 
ing churches to prayer and effort, — how short 
their lives ! Luther had to lay off his armor and 
stop fighting the pope and the devil. Bunyan had 
to leave the immense congelations that hun^ with 
rapture on Ms inspired hps, and like his own 
Pilgrim pass beyond the river. WhitefiekFs clar- 
ion voice, that brought conviction and joy to 
thousands of hearts, died away from field and 
church. The great Edwards ceased after a few 
years to persuade men by the terrors of the Lord. 
"Where are the ministers and the beloved pastors 
that many of us heard in our childhood ? They 
were but sojourners. They are seen no more in 
the pulpit. Then- voices and sermons only linger 
in our memories. So will it soon be with those who 
are seen and heard to-day. Where are the grand- 
parents you can so well recall ? The father, the 
mother, the brother, the sister, the friend, so re- 
cently with you? Oh, they were but sojourners 
here ! How brief the stay of them ! That little 
child, the other day so lovely, so sweet, so bloom- 
ing, where is it now ? Those tiny feet scarcely 



SO JO UBNING AND ITS PERILS. 



21 



touched this earth, ere their patter was heard by 
angels on the golden floor. All are sojourners, 
every one of us, younger or older, passing our 
allotted time. And so are all Ave meet by the way, 
men of business, votaries of pleasure ; the noble 
and Christlike, the mean and the vile ; how soon 
each and all shall be with the past, with the gen- 
erations of the dead ! Oh, how near we are to 
the silent throng ! Our brief Atlantic voyage 
from one - shore to another is a symbol of life 
which, in the language of Job, passes away like 
the swift ships. 

But Christians are sojourners in a peculiar sense. 
They confess themselves pilgrims and strangers on 
the earth. Here they have no continuing city. 
They seek a better country. Their citzenship is 
in heaven. In the world, they are not of it ; 
chosen out of it, yet passing through it, singing, 
u We're homeward bound !" Those not Christians 
are no less sojourners, but they live here as if the 
world were their home. As all the home they 
have, they cling to it, but cannot retain it. They 
love it, but must leave it forever. It is as if one 
on the rail-car should look out on a tree or flower 
and set all his heart's affection on it. But he can- 
not stop to possess and enjoy it. He must pass 
away from it and come back no more. Poor 
worldling ! no abiding place here — no home hi 



22 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



heaven ! To stop here is all his hope, treasure and 
joy; and yet he cannot stay. Though in the 
world and of it, he must be torn from it. He 
cannot detach one of the cars of time, throw it 
off the track, and make it an abiding habitation. 
No, the whole train is sweeping on through the 
world to the final terminus ! 

II. With this declaration that we are sojourners, 
is the intimation of another, a future and perma- 
nent life. "The time of your sojourning liereP 
Beneath these words another world is disclosed. 
A star rises out of the depths of eternity, and di- 
rects our attention there. The very idea of a 
sojourner implies a region beyond the place of 
sojourning. One stops a few days at the springs, 
at the mountains, at the seashore, or goes to a for- 
eign land; but when he ceases sojourning there, 
he is somewhere else. He has gone home. He 
is existing in another spot. We are now on the 
ocean, but a continent beyond awaits us. So if 
but sojourners here, we shall soon be elsewhere, 
in another state of being. Those who have got 
through with earth are somewhere in the great 
Hereafter, saved or lost. As this is true of all the 
dead, so it must be soon of all the living. It is 
this great and solemn fact that gives such a signif- 
icance and underlying depth to the words — "the 



SO JO UBN1NG AND ITS PERILS. 23 

time of our sojourning here." Just beyond is 
Eternity ! and we know not when we shall come 
to its threshold, or what step of ours will take 
us within its tremendous portal. Then the time 
of our sojourning is over. Then is reached the 
reality of a changeless existence. The infinite 
God is there, whose commanding voice echoed 
along the course of our pilgrimage, " Be ye holy, 
for I am holy." In the immediate presence of 
His majestic holiness how will sin and guilt ap- 
pear ? Jesus is there, the brightness of the Fath- 
er's glory, the world's appointed Judge. Heaven 
is there, full of shining angels, fall of white-robed 
saints, full of joy and free from sin. There all 
the saved live and rejoice. There the pilgrims 
and strangers have gone. There the ransomed 
sojourners go. Here to-day — tiiere to-morrow 
and forever! 

Nor is this all. Within the veil of eternity, close 
on the borders of this time of sojourning, is the 
dark and awful region of the lost. A day's march, 
an hour's journey, ay, a step, may reach it — an 
ocean wave, a sea-bubble — and then it is an end- 
less experience and reality. That is the abode of 
those who made this world their pursuit and 
portion. There are the neglecters of God and 
their own souls, the rejecters of Christ and His 
salvation. There are those who chose delusions 



24 BEST DA YS I±V A JO UBNEY. 

instead of divine truth, and who sought shelter in 
refuges of lies. There are the lovers of sinful 
pleasure, and hypocrites who wore the garb of 
religion, but lived in unrighteousness. There are 
those who put their hands to the plow, but turned 
back — those who were awakened, but delayed 
and died without repentance. There are the vile, 
drunkards drinking the wine of wrath, the lost 
and doomed, fallen spirits and Satan at their head. 
There they are in that world of woe, where the 
worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Oh, 
what unspeakable destinies, what amazingly glo- 
rious and awful realities crowd up and await us 
at the very verge of the limit of our sojourning 
here ! 

III. The relation of the present to that future 
life, and as a preparation for it, inspired the Di- 
vine caution in the text. " Pass the time of your 
sojourning here in fear? Be solicitous and anx- 
ious, for your character and work are subject to 
a holy scrutiny and judgment. In fear, not slav- 
ish, abject, tormenting ; but filial, loving, obedient ; 
that fear of God which is the beginning of wis- 
dom, the essence of true religion, the beauty and 
glory of a life consecrated to Christ ; which keeps 
faith a mighty power in the soul, hope its heavenly 
star, love its ruling element, obedience its practical 



SO JO UBNING AND ITS PERILS. 



25 



result. In fear, of offending God who gave His 
Son for you ; of wounding the Saviour who died 
for you ; of committing sin, the soul's sorrow and 
ruin ; of departing from the right way, of losing 
the joy of salvation, of failing of the rest that 
remains for the people of God. Hence, with a 
holy Being over you, heaven or hell before you, a 
tempting and ensnaring world around you, and 
besetting sins within you, — oh, fellow-voyagers, 
disciples of Jesus, u Pass the time of your sojour- 
ning here in fear." Several things urge this in- 
junction. 

1. Your liability to forget the reality and near- 
ness of the solemn future, and your intimate rela- 
tions to it. The world is ever around you, 
presenting its objects, and claiming your atten- 
tion and regard. The things that are seen and 
temporal thicken about us like a cloud, and hide 
from our view the skies of eternity. Duty and 
necessity require us to mingle much in the affairs 
of the world, but we must guard against their 
gaining the mastery over us. We must not forget 
our higher errand and vocation. Our souls are in 
our charge. If Christians, we have assumed 
divine vows. "We have taken the badsre of disci- 
pleship, and have a commission from the Son of 
God. We must give account of our stewardship. 



26 



REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



What if we should fail to meet our responsibility ? 
What if we should stop to play with toys and 
sport with trifles, and overlook the grand mis- 
sion and significance of our life and c-allins: ? 

2. We should sojourn here in fear lest by a 
defective piety, or unworthy example, we hinder 
or misdirect others. None of us are so uninflu- 
ential, but some will be swayed by us, and will 
pattern after us; and they will not so readily 
perhaps copy excellencies as defects. Unless you 
habitually live and walk in the fear of God, some 
delinquency of yours may be a stumbling-block 
in another's path. It may darken the light of life 
in his soul, quench his zeal, hinder his usefulness, 
and cause him to err from the truth. It may con- 
firm the skeptic, and keep the sinner from coming 
to Christ. How should one dread being the occa- 
sion of such injury and evil. Better that he sink 
with a millstone about his neck in the depths of 
the sea. 

3. We should live in holy fear, lest w^e fail of 
the grace of God — lest, a promise being left us 
of entering into His rest, any of us should seem 
to come short of it. Not only the openly wicked 
will be lost, and those who never cherish any 
interest in the gospel, but some others will perish ; 
some who have been awakened, some who have 
even professed religion ; because they do not cleave 



SO JO UBNING AND ITS PERILS. 



27 



to the Lord and His people, because like the fool- 
ish virgins they have no oil in their lamps. Grace 
does not reign in their hearts. They love the 
world more than Christ. They are like the man 
in the parable who said, "I go sir/' but went 
not. Paul had to strive and conquer, lest he 
should be a castaway. The Laodiceans, becoming 
lukewarm, were spurned as offensive to Christ. 
Judas, who had a position among the twelve, went 
to his own place as a son of perdition. Have not 
those ceasing to watch and pray fallen into temp- 
tation ? Look at the rocks and quicksands where 
they have made shipwreck concerning the faith • 
where they have been lured to sin and folly; 
where they have sacrificed their religion and their 
souls. That young man — how Ml of promise 
was the opening of his Christian career ! Where 
is he now ! That young woman — how sacred 
were her vows ; how beautiful her public recog- 
nition of them ! How could she deny her Lord % 
Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest 
he fall. Avoid the appearance of evil. Touch 
not the unclean thing. Neither give place to the 
devil. Keep yourselves unspotted from the world. 
Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. 
Fear not them that kill the body ; but fear Him 
which, after He hath killed, hath power to cast 
into hell ; yea, I say unto you fear Him. Work 



28 BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 
lest God's saving pleasure be not wrought in you. 

But is not the believer safe ? Has he not assur- 
ance of salvation ? Yes, he is, he has. But pre- 
sumption or profession is not safety, and to be 
carnally minded is death. A Christian may wan- 
der and sin grievously. " And though/' as Leigh- 
ton says, u a believer is freed from hell, so that 
his soul cannot come there j yet some sins may 
bring as it were a hell into his soul for a time, 
and this is reason enough for the Christian in his 
right wits to be afraid of sin. Jso man would 
willingly hazard himself upon a fall that may 
break his leg or some other bone; though he 
could be made sure that he should not break his 
neck, or that his life were not at all in danger, 
and that he should be perfectly cured ; yet the 
pain and trouble of such a hurt would terrify 
him, and make him wary and fearful when he 
walks in danger." 

4. We should heed the caution of the text, for 
we know not when and where the time of our 
sojourning will end. You may be suddenly cut 
off. How near the end has seemed to some of 
you! If away from God, in the neglect of duty, 
in scenes of folly — there you may be called to die, 
and from thence, unwilling as you might be to 
have it so, your spirit be summoned to meet its 



SO JO UBNING AND ITS PERILS. 29 



God. brother ! fear to depart from Christ and 
His service, lest, during such departure, death 
shall overtake you. Go nowhere, do nothing, in 
the midst of which you would not be ready and 
willing, if Providence so ordered, to die and ren- 
der up your account ! 

5. Finally, the very greatness and grandeur of 
Christian responsibility — the soul's salvation in 
charge, eternal life embracing the fullness and 
duration of heaven — is sublime and glorious 
enough to inspire us with the profoundest solici- 
tude and anxiety. What are we taking with us 
through this time of sojourning? What are we 
expecting at its close ? Can we be thoughtless, 
careless, neglectful ? Suppose a man is entrusted 
with a casket of jewels worth millions, and he 
must pass through dangerous places and among 
enemies and robbers on his way to the station 
where he is to deliver it in safety. Would he not 
guard his way and treasure with the utmost 
anxiety and vigilance? Consider the intense 
solicitude of the master of this steamship. Five 
hundred human lives are committed to his care. 
Vastly more than that number on two continents, 
with beating hearts and eager eyes, are watching 
this vessel charged with this precious freight. 
Great treasures in gold have been intrusted to 
him for safe transportation across the ocean. 



30 



BEST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



What if he should be careless, faithless, reckless ? 
How is his whole nature absorbed with the inter- 
ests in charge ! But are the work and respon- 
sibility of the Christian life, of an immortal soul, 
to which is committed this brief probation laden 
with all the amazing interests of eternity, any less 
momentous or important? If that soul fails, 
what a failure ! If it succeeds, what a success ! 
Is the gain or loss of a world any estimate of it ? 
Can human language express it ? 



THE BEACON LIGHT, 



While on life's stormy sea 

My bark is driven, 
From a fair coast to me 

Sweet light is given, 
Gleaming around my way, 
Cheering the dull delay, 
Blending its golden ray 

With hues of heaven. 

Clouds may o'erhang my path, 

Veiling the sky, 
Tempests break forth in wrath, 

Billows roll high; 
Still shines the one dear light, 
Outlives the darkest night, 
Brings morning calm and bright, 

Is always nigh. 

That beacon light I have, 

And lose all fear; 
The Saviour walks the wave — 

His voice I hear — 



BEST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



My precious, perfect Guide, 
Bidding the storm subside, 
Showing, beyond the tide, 
Skies heavenly clear. 

I feel thy magnet powers, 
Bright world to come ! 
Faith sees thy glorious bowers, 

Where angels roam; 
Where loved ones, gone before, 
Now beckon from the shore 
And make me long the more 
For them and home. 



SERMON II. 

PILATE'S QUESTION-OUES. 



Dublin, Ireland. 



PEEFATORY NOTES. 



THE two Sabbaths next following the one when the 
preceding sermon was preached, were passed in 
Ireland. On the first we attended services at 
Killarney, in the morning at the English church, and in 
the afternoon at a small Wesleyan chapel, whose minister 
urged us to occupy his pulpit. Dr. Gillette preached, 
and by request I gave some account of the great revivals 
the previous year in the United States. The congregation 
were deeply interested. 

On reaching Dublin, we found the Irish Presbyterian 
General Assembly in session. We attended some of its 
meetings, and were treated with great kindness and 
hospitality. Rev. Dr. Kirkpatrick, in whose church it 
met, and whose assistant pastor was Kev. John Hall, 
now of New York, invited us to dine at his house. We 
were also furnished with tickets to breakfasts, provided 
by ladies at the Rotunda Hall for the whole Assembly. 
What added special and remarkable interest to the 
meetings, were the reports presented of the wonderful 
revival prevailing at the time all through the north of 
Ireland. Pastors and others had witnessed in three or 
four weeks more conversions than in all their lives 
before. Religious services day and night, in the churches 
and in the open air, were thronged with people, and 
scenes of the deepest interest, and sometimes of great 
excitement, occurred. We saw some of these field 
meetings in passing through the country. 

37 



38 



BEST DAYS IN A JOURNEY. 



The pastor of the principal Baptist church, Kev. Mr. 
Milligan, prevailed on us to stay and preach to his people 
on the Lord's Day. The sermon following was delivered 
on that occasion. At its close I gave some incidents of 
the precious revival in my church at home. After this 
service and that in the evening when Dr. Gillette 
preached, many lingered, and we sang several revival 
hymns and tunes that were new to them. The people 
gathered about us, and expressed very great interest in 
the privileges of the day, copied some of the hymns, and 
wished we could stay longer, and in revival meetings 
with them. The pastor from his pulpit, and in behalf of 
himself and his flock, expressed his great delight in the 
visit and services of his American brethren. 

Rev. Dr. Cooke, the Nestor of the Irish Presbyterian 
pulpit, had desired to see us at his house in Belfast. 
As we called the Tuesday following, he insisted on our 
dining with him, after he had taken us over the city, to 
Queen's College, the Theological Seminary, in which he 
was a Professor, and to one of the immense linen 
establishments, and then wished we could stay longer 
that he might show us other things of interest. After 
dinner he walked with us a long distance to direct our 
way, and as we parted said, ''God be with you." 



PILATE'S QUESTION— 0TJE3. 



Preached in the Baptist Chapel, Dublin, Ireland, Sunday, 
July 10, 1859. 

Matt, xxvii. 22. — what shall i do then with jesus, which is 

CALLED CHRIST? 

OT for many years has there been in this 
land such an interest, such a profound 
solicitude as now, in this significant and 
suggestive inquiry. Christ seems to come how 
impressively near to the people at this hour, and 
His claims upon them are felt to be most serious 
and imperative. What mean the throngs by day 
and night, here in the largest buildings and there 
in the open fields, listening as for life to the gos- 
pel message ? What mean the cries of hearts 
breaking for sin, and the rejoicings of new-born 
souls ? We are reminded of the prophet's words : 
u Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; 
for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of 
decision." 

Pilate was in a position where he must take 
responsibility. He must act, he must decide one 

39 




REST DA YS IN A JO UMNJSY. 



way or the other. He must do something with 
Jesus. He must protect and defend Him. or give 
Him up to his enemies. As the Roman crovernor 
of Judaea, Pilate was exclusively invested with 
the power of capital punishment : and if Jesus is 
crucified, he must order or sanction the act. The 
Jews had condemned Him, and now the Gentiles 
through their judge, if he consents, will join them, 
that the whole world may crucify its Saviour. 

From what he knew and saw of Jesus, His 
character and works, Pilate perceived that He was 
innocent, and to avoid responsibility said to the 
chief priests. Take ye Him and judge Him 
according to your law." But this did not satisfy 
them: for they could not legally put Him to 
death: so they renew their accusations against 
Him. Pilate then put Jesus on trial, and at its 
conclusion said to the chief priests and the people, 
" I find no fault in this man." With a deepening 
conviction of His innocence, as the question came 
up. What shall I do with Him ? why did he not 
act the pan of an honest and upright magistrate 
or judge ? Christ's enemies still clamoring against 
Him, Pilate thought of another expedient. Inci- 
dentally learning that Jesus is a Galilaean, he sends 
Him to Herod who had jurisdiction there. Herod 
was now m Jerusalem, and glad of an opportunity 
to see Jesus, hoping to gratify a vain curiosity. 



PILA TE'S Q UESTION—0 URS. 



41 



But Jesus wrought no miracle before him, nor 
answered any of his questions. Herod refused to 
take responsibility further than, with his associates, 
to mock and insult the Holy Sufferer and send 
Him back to Pilate. 

The Eoman governor is again troubled with the 
perplexing and momentous question, " What shall 
I do with Jesus, which is called Christ V There 
was a conflict in his mind. He knew what he 
ought to do. He knew what justice required him 
to do. But there were false and furious men 
demanding that Jesus be given up to death. 
Shall he disregard their clamors and do his duty ? 
Shall he be true and righteous toward the inno- 
cent Prisoner, or shall he deliver Him to his mali- 
cious foes ? He seems hardly ready to do either. 
He calls together the chief priests, the rulers and 
the people, and tells them that as he finds nothing 
worthy of death in Jesus, he will chastise Him 
and release Him. He hoped this would satisfy 
the people. But they, following their leaders, 
called for the release of Barabbas. So Pilate 
could not escape his responsibility. He could not 
get out of his perplexity. The great question 
with him still was, What shall I do ivith Jesus f 
Something he must do with Him. And now was 
his time to do right, regardless of consequences. 
Why did he not say, u I know Jesus is innocent. 



BEST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



He has done nothing worthy of death : I will 
shield Him from the power of His enemies." 
Thus he should have done. But he had not the 
moral courage. So he takes a kind of middle 
course, scourging the innocent Jesus, with the 
hope that it might satisfy His foes. But after 
inflicting this act of cruelty, he grows - morally 
weaker. He soon gives up Jesus, though not 
without some misgivings. " I find no fault in 
Him," he said, and repeated it, adding the words, 
" Take ye Him and crucify Him." 

Thus Pilate, in the face of the clearest convic- 
tions of the innocence of Jesus, with a knowledge 
of his duty, the warning of his wife's dream, and 
the witness of his conscience, cowardly yielded 
his trust. He knew he was doing wrong. He 
was troubled and afraid when he heard that Jesus 
had made Himself the Son of God. He was 
somewhat horror-struck at the thought of his act, 
and that Jesus was something more even than an 
innocent man. It was not too late for him now 
to use his authority for the release of Christ. 
He goes to Him again. He confesses this authori- 
ty : "I have power to crucify thee, and I have 
power to release thee." Why did he not exercise 
that power as his conscience bade him ? He had 
this one more opportunity, and it was his last. 
" What shall I do with Jesus? I ought to release 



PILA TE & Q UESTION—0 UBS, 



43 



Him." At this point, "the Jews cried out, 
saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not 
Caesar's friend : whosoever maketh himself a king 
speaketh against Caesar." On hearing this, Pilate 
brought Jesus forth and delivered Him to His 
foes to be crucified. Here was a matter of self, 
of worldly interest, rather than peril which, he is 
willing to doom the innocent Jesus to the death 
of the cross. Of what avail was it to wash his 
hands before the multitude, and utter the palpable 
falsehood : "I am innocent of the blood of this 
just person!" He was not innocent. He inquired 
" What shall I do with Jesus ?" He confessed 
that he had power to crucify or release Him. 
And yet he gave Him up to be crucified. That is 
what Pilate did with Him w r ho is called Christ. 
He did this though he knew that Jesus w x as just 
and pure, and he had intimations at least that He 
was the Son of God. 

Perhaps I have dwelt too long on this action of 
Pilate. But the account of his course is instruct- 
ive. Pilate is a representative man— a type of 
many others. The question of the text, as I 
observed at the beginning, is significant and 
suggestive. It was a serious, solemn and im- 
portant question for the Roman governor to 
consider and to answer. It is a question of no 
less solemnity and concern to every one of us. 



44 



BEST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



He could not avoid meeting it ; nor can we. 
Consider then briefly, three topics involved in 
this question: What shall I do with Jesus? 
Under the gospel Jesus is intrusted to us alj. 
We must do something with Him. What we do 
with Him now is an indication of what He will do 
with us hereafter. Such are our intimate and all- 
important relations to Jesus who is called Christ. 

I. Jesus is inteusted to us all. He is in a 
sense given us in charge. Pilate at that time was 
governor and judge; and Jesus came before him; 
was brought to him; he had Him on his Hands, 
so to speak. In the gospel Jesus lias come to 
us ; He is brought before us ; He is left on our 
hands. We are judges. We take the case; we 
must take it; there is no avoiding it. The 
responsibility is inevitable. The reality of it is 
as evident as our life, as our souls. Every one 
of us takes the charge of life — of living here in 
this world. We must take it. It is on us ; and 
we must acknowledge and meet the charge. 
Every one has this life on him with all its mighty 
reality and meaning ; with all its clustering inter- 
ests and unutterable possibilities — its sublime joys 
and profound sorrows ; its soaring hopes and 
shadowy fears; its privileges and its perils; its 
successes and its failures. And in regard to the 



PILATE'S QUESTION— OURS. 



45 



soul, the great central and imperishable reality 
and significance of life, how may each say, " A 
charge to keep I have" ! A man may think little 
of his soul, but he has it in his keeping. It is 
intrusted to him. He has got the precious jewel, 1 
the unspeakable treasure, and ever carries it with 
him. He cannot leave it. He cannot divest 
himself of responsibility in regard to it. 

So it is with our relation to Jesus. We have 
Him in view. We have Him in charge. He has 
come to us. He has entered our very nature. 
Our flesh and blood He took. Oh, how intimate 
our relation ! We have Jesus in the mysterious 
incarnation cast upon and incorporated, as it were, 
into our humanity, to restore it, to sanctify it, and 
to elevate it to the glorious and sublime realiza- 
tion of God's purposes and promises concerning 
His children. Thus we have Christ. Our race 
has Him — God incarnate ! What a charge to be 
intrusted with ! 

Jesus was brought to Pilate, for his disposal. 
Jesus is brought to us, how often ! Enemies 
brought Him to the Roman governor ; but friends 
bring Him to us. The first desired His shame 
and death ; the latter His glory and honor. Chris- 
tian parents have brought Jesus to us in their 
instructions and prayers and example. Sunday- 
school teachers bring Jesus to those under their 



46 



REST DA YS ZV A JO URNEY. 



charge. How frequently they bring Him ! And 
how often do Christians and converts, especially 
in this time of God's gracious visitation, bring 
Him to their friends ! Xot as those who took 
Jesus with staves and swords and thongs, and 
bound Him and brought Him to Pilate that he 
might scourge and crucify Him. Xo : they bring 
Him with tenderness and affection, with tears of 
solicitude and joy, that you may know, reverence 
and love Him. And what a trust every one, 
every child even, has in possession, to whom 
Jesus is intelligently brought ! 

Jesus comes to men in the Word of God. The 
Bible is full of Him. There you see Him, beau- 
tiful in the first promise, glorious in prophetic 
vision and utterance ; at His birth heralded by the 
songs of angels and heavenly hosts, in His life 
and deeds gracious and merciful, in His death and 
resurrection speaking in righteousness, mighty to 
save. You that have the Bible are intrusted with 
Jesus. The blessed Gospel brings Him to you. 
We preach Christ and Him crucified. The am- 
bassador of one nation goes to another and bears 
the will and purpose of his government and 
entrusts them to the authority there. So the 
ministers of Jesus bring His will and purpose, His 
messages and overtures to those they address. 
Nay, they bring Him to them. They bring Christ 



PILA TE'S Q UESTION—0 UBS. 



47 



again and again, and entrust Him to their keep- 
ing. Jesus comes to men in every gospel sermon 
they hear. The Holy Spirit reveals Him — re- 
proves, convinces, enlightens in regard to Him ; 
so that men may know Him as the Saviour of 
sinners, as Pilate knew Him to be innocent. 
Conscience is quickened. Thought is busy. And 
men have to make up their minds as to the action 
they will take. Lost and sinful men have a Sav- 
iour given them. God so loved the world that 
He gave His only begotten Son. Jesus loved us 
and gave Himself for us. 01^ what a gift to all, 
old and young, rich and poor. Jesus is God's 
unspeakable Gift to you. He has intrusted Him 
to you. Pilate had Him before him, and you 
have the same Jesus before you. What will you 
do with Him ? How will you discharge the 
sacred trust ? 

II. We must do something with Jesus. All 
of us must. We cannot be indifferent. There 
is no neutral place for us, — no escaping the re- 
sponsibility of action. Pilate had to dispose of 
Christ in some way, and so must we. He tried 
to get along without deciding, but could not. 
Nor can we. We are judges now. Every one is 
a Eoman governor. Jesus is brought before ) t ou. 
He is on your hands, and you must dispose of 



48 



REST DA YS TN A JO URNEY. 



Him — must do something with Him* If you send 
him to Herod, he will send him back to you. 
The more you try to avoid a decision, the more 
you will find that such a decision must be made. 
If you postpone it for further conferences with 
Jesus, as Pilate did, the responsibility is not 
avoided. It comes back upon you with all its 
tremendous weight and solemnity. As the Jewish 
rulers and the clamoring multitude were awaiting 
Pilate's decision, and History was waiting to re- 
cord it for all time ; so your own interests, and 
men, angels and devils are awaiting your decision, 
and all your eternity will be shaped and colored 
by it. All men who know of Christ have this re- 
sponsibility. When He was on earth it was so, 
from the time that Herod sought to kill the Holy 
Child, till at last He was slain by wicked hands. 
As He went about doing good, men everywhere 
either received or rejected Him,loved orhated Him, 
followed or forsook Him, called Him a Saviour 
or a sinner, Christ or Beelzebub. They did some- 
thing with Jesus. The Nazarenes tried to throw 
Him down a precipice. Others sought to kill 
Him. Many heard Him gladly; hailed Him as 
the blessed and long-looked-for Messiah ; were 
healed and saved by Him ! Oh, how they wor- 
shiped and loved Him ! What a welcome Guest 
at a house in Bethany ! He had twelve chosen 



PILATE'S QUESTION— OURS. 



£9 



as Apostles. They had Jesus in charge. What 
did they do with Him ? One betrayed Rim — de- 
livered Him up for a few pieces of silver. Think 
how Judas Iscariot disposed of Jesus, and what 
eternal infamy has blasted the name and the soul 
of that traitor ! The eleven clung to Him. Peter 
for an hour or two denied Him, but bitterly re- 
pented, and served Him the more earnestly after- 
ward. They proclaimed Him as the Saviour of 
men. They everywhere stood up for Jesus. They 
periled their lives for Him. They became martyrs 
for Him, as did thousands of others after them. 
When persecution raged, when Christians must 
renounce Jesus or die; then they had to choose 
what they would do with Him. When Saul of 
Tarsus saw the light and Form, and heard the 
voice from heaven, while going to Damascus; 
then he had to do something with Him who an- 
swered his inquiry: "I am Jesus whom thou per- 
secutest." Agrippa, and Felix, and Festus, and 
thousands of others to whom the Apostles preach- 
ed, had to do something with Jesus, as did the 
young ruler who came to Him with the question 
about eternal life ; as did blind Bartimeus when 
Jesus of Nazareth passed by ; as did the two 
thieves on the cross. 

"What shall I do with Jesus P You have 
already done something with Him. You have 



50 BEST DA YS IN A JO URNE Y. 



taken sides in regard to Him,, I have ; you have ; 
all these Christians, veteran saints and young con- 
verts, have ; and those still unconverted have. 
Those on the one side have received, and those on 
the other side have thus far rejected the Lord 
Jesus Christ. If I should ask one of these older 
Christians, a father or mother in Israel, what have 
you done with Jesus ! the answer would be some- 
thing like this : "Why, through infinite mercy and 
sovereign grace, years ago I was led to take Jesus 
to my heart. I took Him as my Prophet, Priest 
and King. He was made unto me wisdom and 
righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 
1 put Him on by an open profession ; I have ob- 
served His ordinances ; I have tried to make Him 
my example and to do His will. I have put Jesus 
on the throne in heaven and in my heart. I love 
to sit at His feet and crown Him Lord of all. 
Unspeakably precious has He been to me, my 
Refuge, my Hope, my All." If I should ask these 
younger disciples and these happy converts, what 
have you done with Jesus ? they would testify to 
a similar though shorter experience. They have 
endeavored to hear and do the sayings of Christ. 
They purpose now and ever to follow their blessed 
Lord. Dear souls, perhaps under temptation or 
in troublous times some of you have been or will 
be asking Pilate's question. Ah ! what have you 



PIT, A TE'S Q UESTION—0 UBS. 



51 



done, what will you do, with Jesus? Do not 
deny IDra. Do not betray Him. Do not forsake 
Him. Do not wound Him in the house of His 
friends. Do not crucify Him afresh. Do not 
drive anew the nails into those hands that have 
been stretched out to save and welcome you, and 
into those feet that have run to rescue you from 
perdition. Do not pierce again that great heart 
that gave you its blood and beats for you with 
infinite love. Do not put another mock and tor- 
turing crown on that holy head that bowed in the 
agony of death for you. Oh ! is it not enough 
that the thoughtless and wicked rejectors of 
Christ, the impenitent and unbelieving, should 
do this ? Do not make any such compromises 
as Pilate sought, scourging Jesus by your woiid- 
liness, your errors, your indifference, confessing 
that you find no fault in Him, and then giving 
Him up ! Oh, cling to Jesus now and forever ! 
Sit at His feet, follow Him, obey Him, honor 
Him, all ye who have ever tasted His redeeming 
love and mercy. Let no name be so sweet, no 
love so strong, no service so absorbing, as His. 
Jesus, my Saviour ! 

"Thy grace shall dwell upon my heart, 
And shed its fragrance there : — 
The noblest balm of all its wounds, 
The cordial of its care, 



52 



BEST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



" I'll speak the honors of thy name 
With my last laboring breath ; 
Then, speechless, clasp thee in my arms, 
The Conqueror of death. " 

III. What we do with Jesus now is an 

INDICATION OF WHAT He WILL DO WITH US HERE- 
AFTER. When the vacillating, dishonest and 
wicked governor gave up the innocent Christ to be 
crucified, that was not the last act of the drama. 
He was not through with the matter then, if he 
thought he was. That decision and disposal of 
Jesus had a bearing on another trial in another 
judgment-hall. Oh what a reversal ! Pilate gives 
up Jesus, who soon dies on the cross. But not 
many years elapse ere the career of the Eoman 
governor ends. Were they not years of remorse 
and sorrow ! Did not the calm, sad, innocent, 
divine face of Jesus haunt him! Did not the 
flagrant injustice of his decision torment him day 
and night with reflections and forebodings more 
startling than the images of his wife's troubled 
dream ? 

Eising up in dark and frowning grandeur 
from the shore of lake Lucerne in Switzerland, is 
a high and gloomy mountain, over and around 
which almost continually hang lowering clouds 
and gathering storms. That is Mount Pilate, 
named after the wicked governor of Judaea who, 



PILA TITS Q UEST10N— UBS. 



53 



according to tradition, having been banished to 
Gaul by Tiberius, wandered about among the 
mountains, stricken and goaded by conscience, 
until he ended his miserable existence by throw- 
ing himself into a lake near the top of this moun- 
tain. The unusual prevalence of clouds and 
tempests on it were long attributed to the unquiet 
spirit still hovering round the sunken body. 
When this was disturbed by any intruder, espec- 
ially by casting stones into the lake, it revenged 
itself by sending storms and darkness and hail 
on the surrounding district. Be this all super- 
stition, there is yet a foundation of truth in it — 
the common sentiment, that marked retribution 
follows a great crime ; that punishment is sure 
to overtake the guilty. 

At length, somewhere, the Eoman governor 
died, and on his vision burst eternal realities. 
Then was not his guilt more clearly flashed upon 
him ? He at once anticipates another day, an- 
other scene, another Judge. Time passes — time 
ends — and that awful day has come. Jesus de- 
scends to judge the world. Oh, what majesty 
and power, as He sits on the Great White 
Throne ! See the Man of sorrows now — once 
the Prisoner before Pilate — see Him as the hea- 
vens and the earth flee away, and the graves are 
opened, as the dead rise, summoned to His bar J 



54 



REST DA TS ffi A JO TJRNEY* 



But who is that coming to judgment, haggard, 
woe-begone, ghasrh as the gates of hell ? Ah ! 
it is the Roman governor. Pilate is the prisoner 
now. He who once disposed of Jesus is to be 
disposed of by Him now. Oh. what a scene ! what 
an interview ! what a result ! I can not dwell 
upon it. You can picture it to your own imagi- 
nation. 

But Pilate, as I said, is a representative man. 
We shall be there. We shall be judged by the 
Lord Jesus. We shall be disposed of by Him. 
We shah hear His kingly voice, " Come, ye 
blessed!" or "Depart, ve cursed F* according to 
our relation to Jesus here — according to our dis~ 
position or treatment of Him as He has come 
before us in the gospel. So our present choices 
and decisions will affect us hereafter — will deter- 
mine our position at the judgment and our destiny 
forever. Those who serve Him here, He will 
honor there. Those who confess Him here. He 
will confess before His Father and the angels. 
Those who are nut ashamed of Him here, of them 
He will not be ashamed when He comes in His 
glory. 

Dear friends, how truly is Pilate's cpiestion 
ours ! x\nd it must soon be decided. He could 
not long parley or wait ; nor can we. Now is a 
most favorable time to settle this momentous 



PILA TE'S Q UESTION—0 URS. 



55 



inquiry. The issue is rendered distinct by the 
wonderful revival of God's work in the land and 
here. Many have joyfully accepted Christ as 
their Saviour. Others, now that He is passing 
by 7 are seeking Him with the earnestness of the 
blind beggar at the wayside ; with the earnest- 
ness of the woman of Canaan # whose faith would 
take no denial. Seize the present opportunity. 
Decide the great question as you will wish it 
were decided when the prerogative shall have 
passed from you to Him before whose judgment- 
seat you must appear! 



WHAT SHALL I DO WITH JESUS ? 



What shall I do with Jesus, 

The Christ, who may be mine ? 
Accept him as my Saviour ? 

Or spurn the gift divine ? 
His only Son God gave me — 

I must, I do decide; 
And Christ I take to save me, 

Or Christ is now denied. 

What shall I do with Jesus, 

The precious Lamb of God? 
I cast my soul upon him — 

He bathes it in his blood : 
I'll gratefully confess him 

Before the vile and just; 
My ransomed powers shall bless him, 

My sure and only trust. 

What shall I do with Jesus? 

For him the cross I'll take; 
All earthly losses suffer, 

Ere I the Lord forsake. 

56 



PILA TE S Q UESTIOiV—0 UR& 

In s canes of joy an J sighing, 
His love shall be the same ; 

"While living and in dying, 
I'll glory in his name. 

Wnat thus I do with Jesus, 

When this brief life is past, 
He will with me remember 

Before his bar at last. 
Nor will he then disown me 

With those who hate and scoff 
At his right hand he'll crown me — - 

He will not cast me off. 



SERMON III. 

OUR GREAT REFUGE. 



Mediterranean Sea. 



PEEFATORY NOTES. 



ETWEEN the preaching of the last sermon and the 
one following, six eventful months had passed. Very 
pleasant Rest Days had been enjoyed in many coun- 
tries and cities, and among Christians of different names. 
The services varied from the simplest Protestant forms to 
the gorgeous and imposing ceremonies of a Christmas 
Sunday at St. Peter's in Rome. Nearly every Sabbath I 
had the privilege of attending at some place of Divine 
worship, and always found in it more or less of profit, 
even when an unfamiliar language was used. Some of 
those occasions and sermons are and ever will be remem- 
bered with pleasure. Among the preachers I heard were 
Dr. Candlish in Edinburgh, H. Stowell Brown in Liver- 
pool, C. H. Spurgeon, W. Landels, and Dr. Cumming, in 
London, Dr. Heacock, (of Buffalo, N. Y.) in Paris, Dr. 
Malan in Geneva, and J. R. McDougal in Florence ; and 
with most of them, including Dr. T. Raffles and Baptist 
W. Noel, I enjoyed most delightful interviews. The 
English church, in nearly every considerable place on the 
continent, has established a service and stationed a minis- 
ter. Other denominations to some extent have done like- 
wise. Travelers and others can thus worship in a way 
that is intelligent and familiar, and often with a church 
of their own faith and order. Tourists in large parties, 
embracing clergymen as they generally do, can extempo- 
rize a service on the Lord's Day, as was several times the 
case with us, and hence the preaching of most of these 
sermons abroad. 

63 



64 BEST DA YS IN A JO UMNEY. 



Embarking at Naples on a French steamer for Alexan- 
dria via Malta, we were soon on the Mediterranean sea 
and near places mentioned in Lnke's graphic account, in 
the Acts of the Apostles, of Paul's memorable voyage 
from Caesarea to Borne. As we approached the port of 
Yaletta, where we landed upon the island of Malta, we 
passed not very far from St. Paul's Bay, the place of the 
shipwreck and marvelous deliverance of all who were on 
the stranded vessel with the prisoner- Apostle. Besuming 
our voyage, the island faded from view, and the open sea 
invited our passage to the wonderful and sacred lands of 
the old historic East. 

As the Sabbath soon came, we had made arrangements 
for a religious service in the cabin, the captain of the 
steamship cheerfully giving permission. It was held at 
11 o'clock, A. M. We began by singing, "Coine, Holy 
Spirit," etc. Bev. William C. Child of Boston read from 
Acts xxvii. the very interesting account of Paul's perilous 
voyage upon this sea, and then offered prayer. We sang 
another hymn — "All hail the power of Jesus' name." 
Then was preached the sermon that follows these notes. 
At its close the two stanzas were sung, "From all that 
dwell below the skies," etc., and the service ended with a 
prayer and the benediction. Some of the three other 
ministers with us would have assisted in the worship by 
taking part, but for the rolling of the steamer and their 
tendency to sea-sickness. On the succeeding day we 
landed at Alexandria. 

When in Beirut, Syria, I preached on Sunday, April 8, 
in the Mission Chapel at the request of Bev. Dr. Wm. M. 
Thomson, I repeated substantially this sermon. 



OTJE GKEAT EEFUGE. 



Preached, on a French Steamer, on the Passage from 
Naples to Alexandria, Lord's Day, 
January 15, 1860. 



Romans viii. 31. — if god be for us, who can be against us ? 



tAUL must have felt the force and comfort 
of the truth he here so tersely utters, when 
he sailed over this sea amidst great and 
terrible storms and dangers, and actually suffered 
shipwreck on the coast of that island our feet have 
so recently pressed. There was something sublime 
in his speech and prophecy, when he stood forth 
among his long-imperiled fellow-voyagers, and 
assured them of their safety on the presence and 
testimony of the angel of his Grod whom he serv- 
ed and believed. He w T as then on his way to 
Rome, where were gathered those disciples to 
whom he subsequently addressed the words of 
the text. 

The whole chapter, of which they are so brief 
a portion, is singularly interesting and precious. It 



65 



66 BEST I) A YS IN A JO TJRNEY. 



begins with the joyous declaration, that there is no 
condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, 
and it closes with the blessed assurance, that 
nothing shall be able to separate them from the 
love of God. These are delightful truths — glori- 
ous announcements. And how appropriate is 
the disclosure of such a Great Eefuge to us, 
creatures of a day, waifs on the sea, surround- 
ed by perils, lingering between two eternities, 
and soon to enter upon an everlasting destiny! 
God for us. Can we weigh the import of 
these words, or estimate the value of such an 
assurance % If God be against us, could we com- 
prehend our position — the vastness of the differ- 
ence between believers justified, and unbelievers 
condemned ; between those who are in a state of 
salvation, and those who are in a lost condition? 

The text has reference to the adopted children 
of the Lord Almighty, redeemed by the blood of 
Jesus, and heirs of eternal glory. Here they are 
servants of God, followers of the Lamb, pilgrims 
and strangers on the earth, seeking a city that 
hath foundations in heaven. They are subjects 
of the new birth ; have repented of sin and be- 
lieved in Christ ; are loyal to their Lord, and living 
to do good ; and so are building themselves up on 
their most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 
keeping themselves in the love of God, looking 



OUR GREAT REFUGE. 



C7 



for the mercy of Christ unto life eternal. It is of 
such the Apostle asks, " If God be for us, who 
can be against usf All true Christians may 
adopt this language. But what are its con- 
tents'? How is God for us? I remark, — 

>I. God's Attributes are for us. His glori- 
ous attributes are all employed to secure the sal- 
vation of His people. His Wisdom was active in 
projecting the scheme of mercy. His Benevolence 
provided for the vast expenditure required for its 
execution. His Justice was manifest in the 
satisfaction rendered to the Divine Law by the 
suffering and death of Christ, that the believer 
might be justified. All the attributes of the Divine 
Being enter into the work of our redemption. 
But more particularly : 

God's Love is for us. His infinite, His everlast- 
ing love is bestowed upon us — is the heritage of 
His children. The riches of this quality in Jeho- 
vah, who can estimate or fathom % We can form 
some idea of human affection. We know some- 
thing of that sacred tie that unites us in the dear- 
est and tenderest relations of life — parental, filial, 
wedded love — the affection that friend feels for 
friend, that one Christian heart cherishes toward 
another. We know something of what one will 
do for another, prompted by love — what the pa- 



68 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



ent will do for a child ; what interest he feels in 
its welfare; what sacrifices he will make for it. 
We know what a friend will do for a friend, at 
love's bidding — how that holy affection will 
endure through life ; its pure flame, that many wa- 
ters cannot quench, undiminished amidst all trials 
and changes. But this is only as the shadow of 
the love that God cherishes towards us — that love 
which began in eternity, is revealed in time, and 
endures for ever — the love that prompted Him to 
give His only and well-beloved Son ; that gath- 
ers us into His own family and household; that 
saves us from sin and perdition; that unites us to 
Himself in the dearest relations ; that purifies us 
and fits us for heaven and its joys ; that makes us 
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; 
that gives us the spirit and privilege of adoption ; 
that brings us up from the dust to companionship 
with angels ; that makes us younger brethren of 
the Eedeemer ; and that lavishes upon us the 
treasures of infinite grace. " Behold, what man- 
ner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that 
we should be called the sons of God." And that 
love is exhaustless and immortal. The human 
mind can not fully grasp it. Time can not com- 
pass it. Infinitude can scarcely measure it; tor 
it is 

"Eternal, fathomless, divine. " 



OUR GREAT REFUGE. 



69 



Yet it is for us — for all the children of God. Ev- 
ery trusting, filial soul takes shelter in it. Every 
anxious, wave-tossed heart can rest in it. Oh, 
what refuge is like Infinite Love ! 

God's Mercy is for us — mercy revealed in the 
Gospel, mercy for sinners, mercy which only God 
could show. It pitied our fallen state. It com- 
passionated our guilty and hopeless condition. It 
looked tearfully upon our moral ruin. It sent the 
Saviour into our w^orld of sin and death. It sang 
the song; that was heard on the hillsides of Beth- 
lehem. It spoke in the teachings and wrought 
in the miracles that the shores of the Sea of Gal- 
ilee witnessed. It wept in the tears that fell at 
Bethany and Olivet. It groaned and bled and 
faltered not in the conflict and agony of Gethsem- 
ane. It struggled, endured and triumphed in the 
death of Calvary. It shines all-resplendent in the 
great Propitiation. It j>leads all-powerful in the 
mediatorial Intercession. It pardons the peni- 
tent. It saves the believer. It welcomes every 
soul that comes to Christ. It is full and free, and 
all who will may receive it, even the chief of sin- 
ners. It is the Christian's inheritance ; he shares 
it continually and forever. Its gracious arms 
enfold him, and draw him lovingly to the very 
bosom of God. This attribute is for us ; and who 
can comprehend the mercy of God to men — His 

6 



70 BEST I) A YS IX A JO URNEY. 



abounding mercy to them that love Him? "As 
the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His 
mercy toward them that fear Him." " As for 
man, his days are as grass ; as a flower of the 
field, so he flourisheth ; for the wind passeth over 
it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall 
know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is 
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear 
Him — that remember His commandments to do 
them." 

God's Power is for us. Omnipotence is engaged 
in ourbehalf — pledged for our defence and safety. 
He is able to keep that which we have committed 
to Him. He is an Almighty Refuge. In His 
hands the weakest of His children are secure. 
He is their hiding-place and stronghold. Think 
of the power of God on our side ! the power 
that piled up the everlasting mountains; that 
holds the billows of this boisterous sea and stills 
the tempest ; the power that balances the 
universe upon nothing; that lighted up the sun ; 
that scatters the stars and sustains them in infin- 
ite space ; that erected the pillars of heaven, and 
garnished the mansions of glory ; that peoples 
unnumbered worlds with intelligent beings, and 
ministers to their myriad wants. Think of that 
Power, joined with infinite Love and boundless 
Mercy, as pledged for us, and exerted in our behalf! 



O UR GREA T REFUGE, 



71 



Love, as exercised by human beings, is often 
without resources to confer the blessings it 
prompts. Mercy may pity, but be unable to 
relieve. But the resources of Almighty Power 
attend these attributes of God. What would you 
not do for the friend you love, what blessing 
would you withhold, if the attribute of Omnipo- 
tence were yours ? How, then, could you minis- 
ter to the objects of compassion ! Our God, who 
is for us, if we are for Him, has that unlimited 
power with infinite wisdom to direct its exercise. 
What a Friend we have to love us ! What a 
protection He can give ! How He can sustain in 
trial, and deliver from evil ! What a shelter in 
our perils, and a defense from our enemies ! Oh, 
to have the God of the universe for us, who can 
be against us ? Who can harm us, or who can 
destroy us ? How safe we are, how secure, how 
happy, let come what will, clouds, storms, ship- 
wreck, we may feel as Paul did, buffeting the 
waves of this sea — There stands by us the angel of 
God, whose we are and whom we serve ; and 
though the heavens fall and the earth be removed 
or consumed, we are safe in the hands of our 
heavenly Father. Oh, believer ! " The eternal 
God is thy Refuge, and underneath are the 
everlasting Arms." 



V2 



BEST DA YS IX A JO URNEY. 



II. God's Providence is for us. How won- 
derfully He guided the prisoner Apostle over this 
storm-tossed sea, and delivered him and all those 
with him from the wreck on the island coast we 
lately left, and made every event of his voyage and 
trial advance his work for Christ and souls. God's 
superintending care is over us. The very hairs 
of our head are all numbered. Committing our 
ways to Him, He will direct our steps. He will 
lead us in the paths of righteousness for His name's 
sake. In this state of probation, of discipline and 
preparation for the life beyond, our heavenly 
Father may not exempt us from conflicts, trials 
and sorrows. He knows all the correction in 
righteousness, all the discipline of affliction we 
need. He knows how much prosperity we can 
bear, and how much adversity will be good for 
us. Health, sickness, privileges granted or de- 
nied — all these are ordered in infinite wisdom. 
And all things work together for °x>od to them 
that love God. Circumstances that we may 
regard as a calamity, occurrences that may seem 
unpropitious, may be the very means that God 
takes to confer a blessing upon us. The dark- 
est and coldest night brings out the brightest 
stars. Storms and tempests are necessary to 
purify the air. So piety often shines most 
sweetly in adversity, and afflictions refine the 



OUR GREAT REFUGE. 



73 



soul. Our Saviour was made perfect through 
sufferings. God knows how to bring good out 
of evil, and how to deliver the godly out of 
temptation. His all-pervading providence. His 
special superintendence is ever about us, is 
always for us, is never against us. We in our 
short-sightedness and lack of wisdom and faith, 
often murmur at Divine Providence as though 
it were a foe to us. Jacob mourns the loss of Jo- 
seph, regrets the absence of Simeon, and fears 
that Benjamin will be taken, and says, " All 
these things are against me," while God is using 
all those seemingly untoward events to bring 
about the most prosperous and joyous results. 
Thus all the dispensations of P rovidcnce, and 
those higher, profounder dispensations — the sol- 
emn decrees, the eternal purposes, the deep coun- 
sels of God, whether revealed or not — are all for 
us, and they are for all that put their trust in 
God. They furnish firm ground for hope, for 
confidence, and safety. Our Father has loved us 
with an everlasting love. And, in the words of 
an Apostle, u We are not appointed unto wrath, 
but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus 
Christ." 

III. God's Word is for us. The Bible 
pleads the cause of the Lord's people. It is on 



74 



REST DA Y& IN A JO URN BY. 



the side of the saints. It takes their part. It 
sustains and encourages them. Its glorious reve- 
lations are for them. Its prophecies and their 
fulfillments, its great and precious promises, the 
Saviour it describes, the salvation it unfolds, the 
heaven it reveals, the crown of glory it exhibits, 
are all for those that love and serve God. The 
commands and precepts of the Bible, and the re- 
wards of obedience are ours. As we cling to the 
truths of Jehovah, which are as enduring as His 
throne, and unchangeable as His character, they 
will sustain and support us. 

Human wisdom as a guide may lead us astray. 
Human opinions as a basis for religious belief and 
conduct may fail us at last — may be against us 
then. Not so the Word of God. Make it our 
guide, and no error deceives us ; no delusion 
blinds us. Make the Bible the foundation of our 
life and character, and we rest on the Rock of 
Ages; we stand in the very strength of God — a 
sure footing, which nothing shall sweep away; 
which no assault can invalidate ; which no con- 
vulsion can destroy. If we cling to the Bible, 
the Bible will cling to us, and defend us, and 
plead for us, and God will acknowledge the plea. 
The precious truths we have believed will uphold 
and comfort us, though all earthly aid should fail. 
The duties we have done and the practices w T e 



OUR GREAT REFUGE, 



75 



have followed, in the faith and love of Divine 
Truth — finding their appropriate outcome in prac- 
tical benevolence and self-denying usefulness, will 
at last afford us unspeakable delight and joy. And 
what a serene, assuring satisfaction has the obedi- 
ent believer ! He has a spiritual insight and 
knowledge that reason and argument cannot give 
or overthrow. It is the witness of God in soul- 
experience. "If any man will do His will, he 
shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. 77 
Entrenched here we can sweep the voyage of life 
and eternity from a fortress stronger than the 
Gibralter that commands the entrance to this 
sea. The Bible as well as the God of the Bible is 
for us. 

IV. God 7 s Holy Spirit is for us — the Spirit 
of all power, the Spirit of all grace. What a 
glorious Person to be employed in our behalf, to 
be enlisted in our defence. The Spirit that moved 
upon chaos at the creation, that evoked light from 
darkness, and order and beauty from emptiness 
and gloom ; that inspired the song of the morning 
stars and the shouting of the sons of God,- the 
Spirit that possesses every Divine perfection ; 
that is the original Inspiration of Scripture, and 
the Source of wisdom and spiritual power; the 
world's Reprover of sin, of righteousness, and of 



76 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UEXE Y. 



judgment ; the Author of regeneration, and the 
Sanctifier of the soul ; the Comforter and Witness 
of the church ■ the Spirit that kindles, keeps alive 
and perfects the Christian graces; that abides in 
the heart and strengthens to trial and triumph 
the soul of everv redeemed mortal; the Successor 
of the Saviour, and the Revealer of the things 
of Christ ; the Enlightener of the mind, the 
Inspirer of prayer, and the Guide into all 
truth — that blessed Spirit is for us, if we walk in 
Him ; and all Iiis resources, His gracious and 
heavenly influences are pledged to sustain us, 
and promote our present and eternal good. 
With the gift, the graces, and the fruits of the 
Spirit, how can we fail, what can be against us, 
what can harm us, what shall separate us from 
the love of God ? This is the Comforter that' 
Jesus sends to abide with us forever, and by Him 
we are sealed unto the day of redemption. 

V. God's Sox — the Lord our righteousness 
— is for us. The Saviour of the world, to whom 
is given all power in heaven and earth, is on the 
side of all His followers. He who wrought mira- 
cles in Judaea, healing the sick and raising the 
dead ; He who resisted unto blood, vanquishing 
Satan, and rose in glorious triumph over death 
and the grave ; He who came to seek and to save 



OUR GREAT REFUGE. 



77 



the lost, who was dead and is alive again and 
liveth forevermore to intercede for us, and is able 
to save to the uttermost all those that come unto 
God by Him ; He is for us. And what has He 
declared % I am the Eesurrection and the Life ; he 
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live ; and whosoever liveth and believeth 
in me shall never die ! Lo, I am with you always. 
He that heareth and doeth my sayings shall rest 
upon a rock that cannot be shaken. I give unto 
you eternal life. I go to prepare mansions of 
glory for you, and I will come again and receive 
you unto myself, that where I am there ye may 
be also. Ye shall eat of the tree of life in the 
midst of the Paradise of God. I will lead you 
unto living fountains of waters, and God shall 
wipe away all tears from your eyes. Oh, you 
shall be mine in that day when I make up my 
jewels ; and my voice from the Judgment throne 
shall give you unutterable delight : Come, ye 
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- 
pared for you from the foundation of the world. 
The Son of man who loved us and gave Himself 
for us, the Lamb of God whose blood cleanseth 
from all sin, the blessed Jesus in whom all fullness 
dwells, is for us, and He will never leave nor 
forsake us. Having loved His own, He loves 
them to the end. " My Lord and my God." 



78 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



VI. God's Angels and Servants are for 
us. His people everywhere, all good influences, 
all good beings in the universe are for us. God's 
messengers of mercy and ministering spirits 
delight to watch over us, and in a thousand ways 
to aid us. The heirs of salvation are the favored 
subjects of angelic ministration and care. Far 
from home, in strange lands or tossed on the 
swelling sea, those unseen but holy and heavenly 
companions surround us by day and by night, 
God's blessed messengers of good to us. " The 
angel of the Lord encampeth round about them 
that fear Him, and delivereth them." The whole 
family of saints in heaven and earth are for us, are 
interested in our welfare, and linked to us by a 
holy and enduring affection. We are children of 
the same Father, redeemed by the same Saviour, 
renewed and sanctified by the same Spirit, and 
destined to the same eternal home. If nothing 
can separate us from God, nothing can separate 
us from each other. This blessed spiritual union 
will exist forever. All saints on earth are praying 
for us ? and angels in heaven are rejoicing in our 
redemption. 

In fine, all the resources of the Lord of hosts, 
w T ho'has the universe at His disposal, are for us. 
All that we know of Jehovah, all the treasures 
of His infinite love and benevolence, and all that 



OUR GREAT REFUGE. 



79 



we do not know of His boundless wealth and 
unsearchable riches of grace and * glory, are 
pledged for the salvation and happiness of His 
people. Things that the unspiritual eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, are 
disclosed to us or reserved for our enjoyment. 
We may sometimes feel lonely and despondent, 
and think our foes are numerous and strong, but 
our faith may have the vision of a celestial army 
like that seen by Elisha's servant at Dothan, and 
the encouraging assurance comes, that more are 
they that are for us than they that are against us. 

Hence, what a fullness of meaning is in the 
thought that God is for us. And if we are in 
heart and life on His side, " Who can he against 
us V Not any good beings. Go where we will, 
if we are God's children, we shall be welcomed 
by those who love and serve Him; we shall share 
His protection ; we are at home in His universe ; 
we are in our Father's dominions. Jesus brings 
us into His banqueting-house, and His banner 
over us is love. 

The Law is not against us, for it is fulfilled 
in the saints through Christ, who "is the end 
of the law for righteousness to every one that 
belie veth." 

God's Justice is not against us, for it is satisfied 
and its demands are answered in what Christ has 



so 



BEST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



clone for us: and believing in Him we are justified 
by faith in -His blood. "Their righteousness is 
of me. sairh the Lord." 

What if Satan, or the world, or death oppose 
us? Their opposition is unavailing. They are 
conquered foes. Thanks be to God who giveth 
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
Well might the Psalmist say. "When I cry unto 
thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I 
know, lor God is for me." 

While I can think of nothing more terrible, 
desolate, and appalling than to be unreconciled 
to God. to remain in disharmony with Him. to 
have Him thus against us — for a soul, by its 
persistent impenitence and rebellion and unbelief, 
to be abandoned of its Maker and only Saviour, 
to have no divine support in trial, no refuge in 
death, and no home in heaven — what solid ground 
the Christian lias tor entire confidence in God 
who is for him ! Here the weakest may trust 
and rest and be strong. Oh. ye Hearings, 
Eeady-to-Halts. Despondencies, and Much-Afraids, 
take courage! "He giveth power to the faint, 
and to them that have no might He increaseth 
strength. Even the youths shall taint and be 
wearv. and the young men shall utterly fall; 
but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
their strength, they shall mount up witli wings 



OUR GREAT REFUGE. 



81 



as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they 
shall walk and not faint." How safe is he who 
has this Great Refuge. What peace, what 
happiness, w T hat a destiny is his whose life is hid 
with Christ in God ! 

" He feeds in pastures large and fair 
Of love and truth divine ; 
Oh child of God, oh glory's heir ! 
How rich a lot is thine ! 

A hand almighty to defend, 

An ear for every call, 
An honored life, a peaceful end, 

And heaven to crown it all ! ' : 

Oh, friends, and fellow-voyagers on the sea 
of life, if any of you are fearful and full of doubt 
and uncertainty, destitute of heavenly love and 
trust, come into this Great Refuge, come to 
Christ the Ark of salvation, that shall outride 
every stormy wind and swelling wave, and rest 
at last on the bright immortal mount of God ! 



HYMN OF TRUST. 



God is for me, — Pe. lvi. 9. 

God is for me ! oh, how glorious ! 

Who the weakest saint can harm ? 
He will make that saint victorious, 

Held and sheltered by his arm. 
God is for me — 

Nothing shall my soul alarm. 

Wonderful the gift he gave me, 

Lost without a hope or claim; 

Matchless mercy ! when to save me 
Christ the Lord of glory came! 

God is for me, 
Thanks eternal to his name! 

Promises how great and precious 

Cheer and gladden all my way; 
Peace and comfort, sweet and gracious, 

Keep me in their blessed sway. 
God is for me, 

Guides and guards me day by day. 

82 



OUR GREAT REFUGE. 



How his goodness round me brightens ! 

His enfolding love I share ; 
Present help each burden lightens ; 

Never fails his tender care. 
God is for me, 

Nothing shall my trust impair. 

All my heart this truth shall cherish, 
All my life, dear Lord, be thine ; 
Then, were earthly good to perish, 

Thy blest smile would on me shine. 

God is for me, 
I am his, and he is mine. 

When shall close this mortal being, 
When I reach the other side, 

Oh, the joy, the bliss of seeing 

Jesus and the white-robed bride ! 

God is for me, 
Safe he'll bring me o'er the tide I 



SERMON IV. 



THE TEAELESS LAND, 



River Nile, Egypt. 

6 



PREFATORY NOTES. 



/FY first Sabbath iu Egypt was passed in Cairo. I was 



engaged to preach for Rev. Mr. Barnet of the Amer- 



ican Presbyterian Mission, but could not fulfill my 
engagement, owing to a severe illness which for three or 
four days kept me in bed. I enjoyed very much the 
society of this excellent missionary, and that of Rev. Mr. 
Lansing, also, who came on with our party from Alexan- 
dria. The next Sabbath, when the following sermou was 
preached, we were on the Nile. There were twelve of us, 
Americans, four being ladies. We occupied two boats, 
under the care of one dragoman, with whom we had 
contracted for a trip to Thebes and back. We had been 
but three days on the river, making only about a dozen 
miles a day, owing to head winds. We were in the com- 
pany of those wonderful monuments, the Pyramids, 
looming up so grandly on our right. 

This midwinter Sabbath was most beautiful. It was 
like the fairest of June days at home. Wa had arranged 
for a religious service at 11 o'clock, a. m., and the sermon 
was again assigned to me. We sang as the first hymn, 
" Majestic sweetness sits enthroned," etc. Psalm lxxxiv. 
and a part of Rev. vii. were read. Rev. W. C. Child 
offered prayer. After another hymn, "When I cau read 
my title clear," etc., I preached on "The Tearless Land." 
Rev. Ransom B. Welch of Catskill, N. Y. , followed with 
prayer. All seemed deeply interested, and several 
expressed their great pleasure in the service. In the 
afternoon we held a precious prayer meeting on the other 
boat. At its close, thinking of my dear flock in New 
Haven, I read over a list of their names. 




89 



90 



REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



How I came to preach, this sermon, and be peculiarly 
affected by it myself, I hardly knew, unless it were that 
while I was ill at the hotel in Cairo, an American traveler 
died there of Syrian fever, having just come from Pales- 
tine, and whose wife and children were waiting for him in 
Geneva — a case that excited great sympathy. I might 
have had in mind also the sufferings of the Israelites from 
their oppressors in the very place where we were. Id his 
prayer at the close of the sermon Mr. Welch, with deep 
fervor, besought sanctifying grace if any of us might have 
been bereaved. 

How vividly all this Sabbath scene came in review 
when I learned five or six weeks afterwards, that on the 
same Sabbath, the funeral services of my youngest child, 
a bright, beautiful and darling boy of nearly four years, 
— in perfect health when I last heard from him — were 
held in my church at home, attended by a crowded and 
tearful throng. Ah ! in God's providence there seemed to 
be an intimate relation between services and hearts so far 
apart and yet in a deep and tender sympathy so near 
together. Was it only a coincidence? Is there not 
sometimes a spiritual telegraphy vibrating with intima- 
tions, impressions, or intuitions from soul to soul, widely 
separated in space ? 

On the homeward Atlantic voyage on the American 
steamer Adriatic, being requested to preach Lord's Day, 
May 13th, I repeated this sermon, as there were among 
\ the passengers, a prominent citizen of New Haven, with 
the remains of his wife who had lately died in Paris ; a 
young widow whose husband on the outward vovage had, 
while suffering from mental derangement, thrown himself 
into the sea, and others who had recent!/ been bereaved. 



THE TEAELESS LAND. 

Preached in Egypt, on a Nile boat, in the vicinity of the 
Pyramids, Lord's Day, January 29, 1860. 

Revelation xxi. 4. — and god shall wipe away all teaks 

FROM THEIR EYES. 

EAVEN is a frequent theme of the Bible. 
Gleams of its glory break upon us under 
various aspects and from different points 
of view. Clearer and brighter grow the visions 
of prophets and apostles, and more definite and 
animating their delineations of Heaven, as we 
trace the order and unfoldings of the Inspired 
Eecord. In its closing pages the pictures of the 
City of God are truly magnificent. We are there 
almost transported to the pearly gates ; can almost 
see the jasper walls, and those within them; can 
almost hear the new song and the heavenly harps; 
and in that light surpassing the sun and the moon, 
we can almost behold the ever-blooming tree of 
life in the midst of Paradise, and the crystal 
waters of the river flowing out from the throne 
of God and the Lamb. Thus the Bible begins 

91 




92 REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



and ends with a Paradise, the one earthly and the 
other heavenly. But what a world lies between 
rhe two ; what strange events, conflicts, and per- 
ils ; what a history is there; what glooms hang 
over it ; what lights relieve it ! It is a history 
of Paradise lost, and Paradise regained — extend- 
ing through this long and sad vale of tears. And 
how much more a vale of tears this world would 
be, were it not for the influences, thoughts and 
hopes of that world where all tears shall be wiped 
away. 

Among the varying aspects of the olessedness 
of Heaven, as presented in the word of God, are 
its positive enjoyments ; its actual attractions and 
glories; its inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, 
and that fadeth not away. Then it is set forth 
and rendered no less alluring to us, as the place 
where all evil will be absent ; where every thing 
that injures, pains, disturbs and annoys us here, 
will be excluded ; where the inhabitant shall not 
say, I am sick ; where nothing that defiles shall 
enter; where sighing and sorrow shall flee away; 
and where there shall be no more death. Heaven 
has attractions for all Christ's followers — some- 
thing just adapted to their desires and wants — no 
matter what their condition is here as to trials, 
sufferings and losses. It has riches for the poor, 
rest for the weary, home for the pilgrim, joy for 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 



93 



the sorrowing, society for the lonely, eternal 
safety for the trembling. 

No Teaks in Heaven! How different from 
this world ! What floods of tears have moistened 
the earth in every age ! Who, of all its millions, 
has not at some time wept ? What multitudes 
have wept bitter and burning tears of sorrow and 
grief? How many, while we may rejoice, are 
weeping now in anguish, and some it may be in 
the homes we have left far away ! And how many 
will weep and weep on, long after our last tears 
are shed. 

f * In heaven alone no sin is found, 
And there's no weeping there." 

Not so on earth. Nor have any class been ex- 
empt from tears. The best, happiest, most favor- 
ed, have not been utter strangers to weeping. 
Jesus wept — wept at the grave of Lazarus, wept 
over Jerusalem, wept in the Garden, wept over 
the effects of sin and over souls rushing to their 
doom. He, Man as well as God, wept in sympa- 
thy with the infirmities of our nature, for He 
could be touched with them. Alexander w T ept ; 
but how different his tears from those of Jesus. 
All men weep at times. Nor do we envy one 
who never weeps. There is often a solace and 



94 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



a sympathy in tears that bring or give relief. 
But they always imply sin or sorrow, and hence 
indicate our fallen state. There were no tears in 
Paradise till transgression brought them. There 
will be none in Heaven, that state of sinless 
purity and perfect happiness. The saints in light 
will never mourn. "And God shall wipe away 
ail tears from their eyes." But He does not 
promise to wipe away ail tears here. Nay, we 
are to weep with them that weep, in imitation of 
our blessed Lord. " Weep for yourselves and 
your children/' said Jesus on the way to Calvary. 
There are many kinds of tears shed here — many 
occasions to unseal their fountain — times when 
they cannot be restrained. But there will be no 
occasion for them in Heaven. Drops of grief can 
never fall on the golden streets, or in the celestial 
mansions. God will wipe away from His peo- 
ples' eyes every kind of tears. 

He will wipe away the tears of Penitence. 
Penitential weeping ! It appeals to our heavenly 
Father. It moves His pity and wins His forgiv- 
ing love. Jesus looks with peculiar regard upon 
the penitent. The poor publican who bowed 
himself to the earth and doubtless with weeping 
cried, u God be merciful to me a sinner," received 
at once the Divine favor. The most blessed tears, 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 



95 



those which Heaven regards with the deepest 
interest, are the tears of penitence — weeping over 
sin, over its guilt in the sight of God, over its 
ruin of the soul — weeping because Infinite Good- 
ness has been disregarded, and infinite gifts of 
love and mercy despised ; Jesus knocking at the 
door of the heart, but shut out till now. Oh, 
how are the fountains of the heart unsealed, its 
great deeps broken up, and the soul itself seems 
to dissolve in penitence, when at length the sin- 
ner bows and yields at the cross of Christ, truly 
a subject of godly sorrow, and repentance unto 
life. Whether tears always flow at such a time, 
there is surely a feeling kindred to them. 

But all tears over self-guiltiness are not tears 
of true penitence. There is a beatitude of sor- 
row, and a sorrow of the world that worketh 
death. There is such a thing as seeking repent- 
ance with tears, and yet no full surrender of the 
heart to God — no decisive choice of Christ and 
His service. Many, convicted of sin, have wept, 
and struggled with their consciences, and yet have 
been unwilling to let go the world and follow 
Jesus. God does not promise to wipe away such 
tears in the future world ; but tears of those who 
have truly loved and served Him here, lamenting 
their sins and imperfections, and often it may be 
shedding penitential tears for their departures 



9(3 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



from and momentary denials of Christ. Plow 
bitter were Peter's tears after his denial of his 
Lord ! While Christians live in this world they 
will never cease to see sins and imperfections to 
weep over ; and because they do weep over them,, 
because they are penitent, cleaving to the Lord in 
faith and prayer and righteous toil, He will wipe 
away all such tears when they enter Heaven. 
No more will they grieve and repent ; no more 
will they mourn their want of likeness to God ; 
for the former things are passed away. Every 
trial is over ; every conflict is ended. And what 
a blessed state that must be — what a glorious 
world — where there is no weeping! We wipe 
away our tears, but they come again ; occasions 
are constantly occurring to cause them to flow ; 
but when God shall wipe them away, they come 
no more ! 

All tears of Sorrow shall also be wiped away. 
I speak of sorrow now in a general sense. And 
how much of it there is and always has been in 
this world of sin ! How much of it in this green 
valley, when these Pyramids were reared by 
exhausting human toil ; when the Israelites per- 
formed their hard tasks here under the iron hand 
of the oppressor; and when their infant children 
were hunted and slain, and Moses was spared 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 



07 



only by the compassion of a princess moved by 
his weeping as she found him in his ark among 
the flags of this river. Xot a day passes now, 
not an hour, not a moment, but some heart is 
breaking, some soul is in anguish, some eyes are 
suffused with tears. Much of this sorrow is pub- 
lic. We meet it every where on this sin-blighted 
and woe-stricken earth. "Man goeth to his long 
home and the mourners go about the streets." 
Injustice," oppression, cruelty — these, as well as 
sickness and death, cause hearts to bleed. Idle- 
ness, dissipation, crime — these bring innumerable 
sorrows in their train • often the innocent are 
involved, and so suffer and weep. Even the circles 
of gayety and pleasure, of fashion and vanity, 
often leading to sin and guilt, are not free from 
sorrow. The forefront of the picture may seem 
all gladness and bliss 5 but there is a dark back- 
ground of remorse and pain. " Sorrow lives with 
those whose pleasures add unto their sins." There 
are depths in the ocean never measured, never 
seen ; so there are depths of grief and woe in the 
heart that the world neither sees nor knows, 
" The heart knoweth its own bitterness," Many 
tears are secretly shed, many pangs felt alone. 
Many troubles choose concealment. 

4 'Great sorrows have no leisure to complain ; 
Least ills vent forth ; grsat griefs within remain. * r 



98 BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 

God's people are not exempt from trials here. 
There are times when they have sorrow upon 
sorrow. u In the world ye shall have tribulation/' 
said Jesus. Prophets and Apostles have wept. 
Christians experience various kinds of sorrow — 
now and then passing through a valley of Bochim. 
But theirs is a chastened grief. Theirs are not 
tears of despair. No — there is a blessed sunrise 
after a somber night. There is a beautiful bow 
spanning the dark cloud. There is a sweet voice 
alternating with the thunder in every storm, and 
heard above the waves in every rough sea, " It 
is I, be not afraid." But, oh, blessed thought ! 
all their sorrows and all their tears of sorrow 
shall be left this side the gate of Heaven. God's 
own soft hand will wipe them away. Their hearts 
shall no more be heavy, their eyes no more dim. 
Saints will see in each other's faces in Heaven 
the light of peace, the glow of joy, the sparkle 
of bliss ; but they will never see there the lines 
of grief, the shades of sorrow, or the tears of 
sadness. There will be no secret chambers of 
mourning; no silent, concealed anguish; no 
weeping over private woes. How glorious is 
Heaven considered in its negative attractions — a 
place where all evil is absent ; w 7 here sighing and 
sorrow and tears are never known ; where, freed 
from sin, we are freed from every ill ! 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 



99 



Again, there are no tears of Disappointment in 
Heaven. There are many of them in this world ; 
but God will wipe them all away from the eyes 
of His children there. They can never know a 
disappointment. They are beyond such a possi- 
bility. They will continually be surprised and 
delighted by the opposite of disappointment. The 
queen of Sheba, coming to see the splendors of 
Solomon, said in astonishment that the half had 
not been told her. But what were that queen's 
emotions when, if admitted to Heaven, she be- 
held the glories of the celestial city ! No, not 
the half, nor even the outlines of a blessed immor- 
tality can be perceived or comprehended by the 
holiest saint in this world. None of the prom- 
ises of God with reference to Heaven will fail. 
None of the Bible descriptions of its beauty and 
bliss can possibly fall short of the reality. None 
of the Christian's hopes and anticipations of its 
glory exceed the truth. No — unthought-of, un- 
speakable, and uncomprehended joys, treasures 
and attractions will burst upon the vision of the 
believer as he enters Heaven. He cannot be 
disappointed there. But here in this world he 
may be. Grievous and bitter may be his tears 
at some sudden reverse, some heart-breaking loss, 
some unexpected grief. A friend, too confidently 
trusted; may deceive ; may prove false ; may in- 



100 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



volve us in trouble ; may crush our earthly hopes 
We know not what disappointments a day may 
bring forth ; what tears we may shed to-morrow ; 
what unlooked-for adversities may overtake us. 
The Christian is in great measure prepared for 
these, if they come, by his trust in God and 
His providence, though he may not escape the 
effects of disappointment, or prevent the tears it 
may bring. Oh, how much of suffering and 
weeping in our world may be traced to this 
source ! Disappointment has broken many a 
heart, and filled all its after earthly life with 
sorrow. But there is none of it in Heaven. 
Its tears are all dropped this side of the 
Celestial Gate. All the disappointed will not 
enter Heaven ; but all who do enter, will be 
disappointed nevermore. 

God will wipe away, too, all tears of Bereave- 
ment from the eyes of His children. What, more 
than affliction, the inroads of death, the loss of 
relatives and dear friends, makes this world a vale 
of tears? Tears of bereavement — who has not 
shed them ? What family circle has not at some 
time been a mourning group ? Who of us has 
not followed some dear one to the grave ? How 
often has the tear-drop fallen over the lifeless 
form, on the new tomb, or flowed in sympathy 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 101 

with others sorely tried ? Very often are the 
familiar lines on our lips : 

"Friend after friend departs; 
Who hath not lost a friend? 
There is no union here of hearts, 
That finds not here an end." 

Many a mother, like Rachel, has mourned for 
her children and refused to be comforted, because 
they are not. Many a father, like David, has 
said in anguish of soul, Would God I had died 
for thee, my son ; and has felt, like Israel, that 
his grey hairs would go down in sorrow to the 
grave. Sisters, like those of Bethany, have 
mourned a brother's death ; and widows like her 
of Nain, have seen their only child and earthly 
stay taken from them. Go where we will, dwell 
where we may, bereavement everywhere meets 
us. In all our journeyings we see indications 
of it. There is no day, no night, no hour, but 
some house is a house of mourning ; from some 
eyes drop the tears of affliction. All the while 
there is somewhere a sad and sorrowing proces- 
sion slowly marching to the grave. The unsightly 
hearse is always moving, unlading at the tomb its 
burden, and returning to bear thither another. 
Some all day and all night are watching at the 
bedside of the dying. Silence and death come, 



102 



REST DA YS IJf A JO URNEY. 



welcome or not, into homes and rooms where joy 
and gladness had been. The grave-digger's work 
is never finished. 

What if all this should stop for a while ! Death 
cease his work ; no more digging of graves ; no 
more bereavement ; no more tears for the de- 
parted ! What a wonderful change ! How strik- 
ing the effect ! And yet earth would not then be 
like Heaven. Sin would be here. Tears would 
still fall. A curse and doom would hang over the 
world Antediluvian longevity was not favora- 
ble to piety. But how are we impressed with 
the happiness and the glory of Heaven, when we 
think of the sublime declaration, u There shall be 
no more death P No tears of bereavement there ; 
no parting with those we meet there; no sick- 
ness ; no couch of pain ; no mortal agony ; no 
corpse ever seen ; no funeral procession ; no 
grave ever dug. It is appointed unto man once 
to die. And when the Christian has gone through 
that solemn scene, he looks hack upon death as 
past for ever ! The reign of mortality is left, 
with all its ills, its perils, its pains, its sorrows, 
its tears. Oh, what a transit ! How must the 
soul thrill with new and wonderful emotions ! 
An angel's wings, an angel's strength, and more 
than an angel's joy, it has. I am now immortal. 
Death cannot reach me. I am in Heaven — the 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 



103 



tearless land, for which I hoped and longed, and 
prayed to be prepared. What glories surround 
me ! What sights and sounds ! What beings I 
behold, what friends I meet ! Never shall we 
part. Infinite happiness ! Unutterable glory ! 
Before me, around me, every where, it is Heaven, 
it is Heaven ! Oh, there is Jesus, who loved me 
and gave Himself for me, and washed me from 
my sins in His own blood. Let me go and bow 
at His feet, cast there my crown, and adore Him. 
I see the land that was afar off, and the King in 
His beauty. Alleluiah! Glory and honor and 
blessing and power to the Lamb for ever and 
ever ! 

Further, God will wipe away all tears of Anx- 
iety from the eyes of His children. But such 
tears will always be shed in this world. Jesus 
Himself wept them over rebel sinners, over a 
doomed city. What deep solicitude do Christian 
parents feel for the welfare of their children. 
Some have not yet given their hearts to the 
Saviour. Perhaps they manifest aversion to reli- 
gious things. They are captivated with the plea- 
sures and vanities of the world. Their precious 
souls are in peril. Prayers are offered and tears 
are wept in secret places for them. Ministers 
feel thus, weep thus, over the impenitent and 



104 



BEST DA YS IN A JO TJRNEY. 



wayward in their congregations. The course of 
the wicked is always a grief to the people of God. 
u Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because 
they keep not thy law." Jeremiah is called the 
weeping prophet because he mourned so over the 
waywardness of his people. u Oh that my head 
were waters/' said he, u and mine eyes a fountain 
of tears, that I might weep day and night for the 
slain of the daughter of my people." When 
Elisha perceived the wickedness that was in 
HazaePs heart, and the results to which it would 
lead, u the man of God wept." Christians often 
weep with sad anxiety over those who persist in 
their neglect of the gospel and their souls. Shall 
they go heedless or headlong to ruin, awaking at 
last to a full realization of what they have done 
and lost, lamenting their course in the unavailing 
tones of a settled and ever-deepening despair: 
u The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and 
we are not saved"? Such anxiety moved the 
mighty heart and yearning pity of the Redeemer, 
and He wept — wept over the doom of the unbe- 
lieving rejecters of Him and His grace. 

Disciples of Jesus feel often a profound solici- 
tude in reference to the results of their labors in 
the vineyard of the Lord. They must give an 
account of their stewardship ; must answer for 
talents given. They cannot shake 01T responsi- 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 



105 



bility. How will they appear at last ? Who has 
believed their report ? The Sabbath school 
teacher is anxious for the conversion of the class 
so often met. There is many a weeping sower 
in the service of the great and blessed Taskmas- 
ter ; and how cheering the promise, " He that 
goeth forth and iveepeth, bearing precious seed, 
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bring- 
ing his sheaves with him." Many are painfully 
anxious about the welfare of Zion, and concern- 
ing their own spiritual state. Tears are shed in 
self-examination and because so little progress is 
made in grace and holiness. But in Heaven there 
are no such tears ; no weeping sowers there ; no 
anxious, trembling laborers ; no painful solic- 
itudes are felt ; no rivers of Babylon to sit down 
by and weep. All this is past. The work-day 
of probation is gone by. Each toilsome task is 
done. An eternal day has dawned. All is reward 
now. The glad welcome at Heaven's gate into the 
joy of the Lord, is the final farewell to anxieties, 
toils, and tears. Oh blessed release ! Oh infinite 
reward ! This glorious prospect is enough to 
encourage and animate us in all our duties here. 
Think of what awaits us in Heaven ! 

" Tis then the soul is freed from fears 
And doubts which here annoy; 



106 REST DA YS IlV A JO URNEY. 



Then they that oft had sown in tears, 
Shall reap again in joy." 

There are, again, no tears of joy in Heaven — no 
tears of joy. On earth sometimes such tears are 
shed. Sometimes even for joy and gladness we lift 
up the voice and weep. Some sudden, unlooked-for 
delight — some narrow escape, some dreaded crisis 
past, some friend saved from peril or met after a 
long absence, some powerful emotion, or raptur- 
ous, sympathetic feeling — has brought the gush- 
ing tears from our eyes, and they mingle with our 
smiles, like the shower in the sunshine. But in 
such tears there is some admixture of sadness or 
pain ; something is connected therewith that made 
us fear and tremble ; something that showed an 
imperfection in our happiness. If there were no 
tears but those of joy in our world, it would be 
greatly changed ; but it would not be Heaven — 
far from it. But when God takes His people 
there, He will wipe away all tears from their 
eyes. Even tears of joy within the immortal 
gates would mar the perfection and diminish the 
blessedness of Heaven ; so they will be left be- 
hind. 

Finally, God will wipe away all tears of Pain- 
ful Apprehension from the eyes of His children. 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 



107 



Not one such tear shall be wept in Heaven. How 
thickly they fall in this world ! What sorrow, 
uneasiness, dissatisfaction and foreboding they 
betoken ! David had the emotion they indicate 
when he said, "I shall one day perish by the 
hand of Saul." The Christian, not having at- 
tained to perfect assurance, knows what the feel- 
ing is. He loves to think of Heaven. It is 
pleasant and delightful to meditate on its glories. 
But, when he thinks of the worldliness that clings 
to him ; the sins that easily beset, and are so hard 
to conquer; so much in his heart unsanctified 
yet ; his small measure of love to God ; his dila- 
toriness in Christ's sendee ; his slow progress in 
the divine life ; his unworthiness of God's mercy 
and salvation ; the poor returns he makes — all this 
causes him at times to apprehend a denial at 
Heaven's gate ; a rejection when the Lord shall 
make up His jewels in the last day. 

" When thou my righteous Judge shalt come 
To take thy ransomed people home, 

Shall I among them stand? 
Shall such a worthless worm as I, 
Who sometimes am afraid to die, 

Be found at thy right hand?" 

No — he is almost ready to say — I fear I never 
shall stand there, clothed in my Saviour's right- 



103 



BEST DA YS IX A JO UBNEY. 



eousness, and hear His blessed welcome to a glori- 
ous and everlasting kingdom. And yet I cannot 
bear the thought of my name being left out of 
the Book of Life. I cannot bear the thought of 
being forever separated from Jesus and Heaven. 
Why art thou cast down, my soul ? Hope 
thou in God : for I shall yet praise Him. The 
imperfect believer has many apprehensions con- 
cerning death and the judgment. Shall I not be 
surprised and overwhelmed when I come to die ? 
Shall I then be sustained by Jesus' presence and 
grace ? Can I calmly, hopefully endure then ? 
Can I triumph over the last enemy ? Yes, dear 
disciple ! Christ will give you dying grace 
which you do not need till that hour comes. He 
will be better than your fears. He will cause 
you to rise above your apprehensions. He will 
bring you to Heaven. u He that hath begun a 
good work in you will perform it until the day of 
Jesus Christ." Then, farewell fears, and all fore- 
bodings ! Farewell all painful anticipations ! 
There is nothing more to dread in the future ; 
nothing gloomy there ; nothing to be apprehended 
w T ith fear and trembling. Oh what a relief, what 
a joy, to feel that we are safe forever ; safe in 
Heaven ; delivered from all sin, all sorrow, all 
tears. So, dear disciple of Jesus, you will feel, 
when you find yourself within the Celestial City. 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 



109 



I have but little time for the lessons of this 
subject. Behold the contrast between Heaven 
and Earth — between this tearful vale and that 
tearless land. Oh, Christian ! can you cling to 
earth ? Can you fail to be heavenly-minded ? 
Can you be absorbed with the interests of this 
world, to the neglect of the infinitely superior 
interests involved in the glory to be revealed? 
Can you strive for things temporal and pleasures 
fleeting, and overlook treasures eternal and joys 
undying ? Can you compare the dross of earth 
with an immortal crown ? Think more of the 
tearless land. Let its precious and powerful 
attractions draw you thitherward. 

Behold, also, the greater contrast between 
Heaven and Hell. If there be such a difference 
between the house of the saints' pilgrimage here, 
and their eternal home in glory ; if earthly dwell- 
ings are so unlike the heavenly mansions ; who 
can set forth the wide disparity, the infinite con- 
trast between the future abode of the righteous 
and that of the wicked ? No tears in the world 
of light. Not so in the world of outer darkness. 
There, " there shall be weeping and gnashing of 
teeth." No soft hand shall ever wipe those burn- 
ing tears away. They w r ill flow for ever. There 
the lost will weep for anguish ; weep over wasted 
opportunities; over squandered time; over de- 



110 REST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



ferred interests ; over wicked choices ; over fatal 
neglects ; over final separation from all that is 
good and blessed in the universe. Think of such 
weeping for a long eternity ! No relief, no end, 
no God to wipe those tears away ; no Saviour to 
redeem your soul ! Oh friend, can you go to such 
a doom ? 

Learn, Christian, to adore that Grace that saves 
you from a lost condition, and exalts you to 
Heaven. Kemember, it is God who wipes away 
the tears of His children. They could not do it ; 
they could not quench them. No works, no sac- 
rifices, no sufferings of theirs could ever dry up 
the fountain of their grief. It takes a God to do 
it ; an almighty Saviour ; an infinite Sacrifice — 
Jesus, the dying Eedeemer. Through His recov- 
ering mercy, by faith in Him, we rise to the tear- 
less world. Oh what love and gratitude we owe 
to Him ! 

Learn again, that, if all tears are to be wiped 
away in Heaven, we can afford to weep and labor 
and suffer here, and make sacrifices, if our Lord 
requires them of us. We can bear any trial, do 
any service, endure any hardness, submit to any 
cross, for His dear sake, however humbling or 
painful, seeing the time is so short, the sorrow or 
toil will soon be over; and then, then — what? 
An eternal weight of glory ! Heaven, all Heaven, 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 



Ill 



and no tears — no more grief! Let thoughts of 
that tearless home mitigate our sorrows or turn 
them into joys, inspire our faith, cheer and en- 
courage ourjiearts, prompt us to duty and wean 
us from earth. 

Learn, also, all of us, the importance of a prep- 
aration for Heaven. It is sin that makes tears ; 
and sin must be got rid of. It is unreconciliation 
to God that makes us unfit for Heaven ; and we 
must be reconciled to Him. We must be born 
again ; we must be new creatures in Christ. Is 
Heaven begun in our hearts ? It must be begun 
there, or we shall not be prepared to enter its 
gates and enjoy its glories hereafter ! 



XO TEARS IX HEAVEN. 



And Go I shall wipo a;vay all tears from tlielr eyes. — F»ev. vn J 1 

No tears in II raven I On, blessed thought ! 
City of God with beauty fraught, 
Who can its wondrous things unfold, 
Its jasper walls and streets of gold, 
Its harps and crowns and robes of white, 
That thrill the soul and charm the sight, 
"VThere shines a radiant endless day, 
And every tear- is wiped away I 

How oft is wept by mourners hero 

The humble penitential tear ! 

Nor does the Lord disdain such grief, 

But gives through faith a sweet relief. 

Angels delight at tears thus shed 

By souls that hence are heavenward led; 

"When hither called, and entering in, 

They weep no more o'er self and sin.. 



THE TEARLESS LAND. 



What floods of sorrow rise and flow, 
Where hearts their bitter anguish know, 
By deep bereavement sorely tried, 
As every earthly fount seems dried. 
But all these streams of trouble cease. 
And souls find sweet unbroken peace, 
As to their rest they soar on high, 
Where tears are wiped from every eye B 

Life seems a wasting scene of care, 
To hearts that anxious burdens bear; 
Tears fall o'er disappointments sad, 
And scarce a day is bright and glad. 
Oh, happy change ! when e'er 'tis given 
To pass the gate that opes to Heaven ! 
No boding thought e'er shades the mind 
Where every tear is left behind. 

Nor there those crystal drops that here 
Sometimes as tears of joy appear, 
For every weeping night is past, 
And morning joys shall ever last. 
Immortal land of life and light, 
Home of the saved forever bright, 
Blest world of love, sweet realm of bliss, 
Free from the tears that fall in this ! 



SERMON V. 

CHRIST ALONE. 



Mount Zion, Jerusalem. 



PREFATORY NOTES. 



FTER a six weeks' trip on the Nile, a visit to the Red 
Sea and the Wells of Moses, a short voyage from Alex- 
andria to Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, brought the Holy 
Land into view. The next day a long-cherished dream was 
fulfilled — my feet stood within the gates of Jerusalem ! 
The third day after was the Lord's Day. This Rest Day 
is sweet to the Christian any where ; a day of cherished 
privileges, holy memories, and blessed anticipations, a 
type also of the rest and worship of Heaven. But what 
hallowed associations cluster around a Lord's Day in 
Jerusalem ! What thrilling and tender scenes from the 
past crowd upon one's thoughts as the very places where 
they occurred are beneath the eye ! 

I arose that clear, calm and beautiful morning and 
looked out at the east window of my temporary abode on 
Mount Zion ; the sun was just rising gloriously over the 
summit of the Mount of Olives. I thought of the event 
of that brighter morning, inauguratiDg and crowning the 
Lord's I)ay, when, just at my left, the place in view, the 
Sun of righteousness arose from the darkness of that 
tomb at the foot of Calvary. Toward Olivet about mid- 
way stood the Mosque of Omar, occupying the very spot 
of the once splendid and sacred Temple, so often greeted 
by the same rising sun. 

Several of our party had arranged for an early walk 
around a portion of the city outside its walls. Passing out 
of the Jaffa or Bethlehem Gate, on the west side of the city, 




120 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



and descending southward by the Lower Pool of Gihon 
we were soon in the deep Yalley of Hinnom. We sat 
down on the farther slope to rest a little while under the 
shadow of a great rock. Above and back of us was 
Aceldama, and directly in front on the north was Mount 
Zion. Occasionally wheat-fields and olive-trees were on 
the broad slope, but no buildings were in sight. Once 
the city covered that hill with dwellings and palaces, but 
in the striking fulfillment of prophecy it has become a 
plowed field. We sang one of the songs of Zion, and 
went down the valley to its junction with that of Jehosh- 
aphat, passing amid ancient tombs and rocky defiles 
the place of the horrid rites of Moloch. Drinking from 
the Well of En-Rogel, we turned northward and went up 
the Yaliey of Jehoshaphat, between the city and Olivet. 
We passed on our right the tomb of Zachariah and the 
Pillar of Absalom ; on our left the Fountain of the Virgin 
and the Pool of Siloam. Through this valley flows the 
brook Kidron. Entering the city at St. Stephen's Gate, 
we passed up the Via Dolorosa going close by and 
just south of Calvary, and soon reached our hotel. 
Later in the forenoon we attended upon services at the 
English church and heard a sermon from Bishop Gobat. 

In the afternoon, going through Zion Gate, we walked 
along by the city walls south and east, looking at some of 
the great stones at the corner, laid probably as early as 
Solomon's time. Then crossing the valley and passing 
by the Garden of Gethsemane, we went over the Mount 
of Olives to Bethany, doubtless in the same path our 
blessed Lord was wont to take. From the reputed house 
of Martha and Mary we proceeded to the cave called the 
Tomb of Lazarus, where as we sat by it I read aloud 
the deeply interesting scenes recorded in John xi. that 
there occurred. 



CHRIST ALONE. 



121 



We returned to the city, having previously arranged for 
a religious service in the large hall of our hotel, with the 
consent of the proprietor. It being the general wish that 
I should preach, the following sermon was delivered on 
that occasion. At eight o'clock, when our people at home 
were closing their morning services, we were assembled 
in that " upper room" on Mount Zion, very like those 
upper rooms where Jesus and his disciples were accus- 
tomed to meet in the same city. The sun's last rays 
had faded from the brow of Olivet, and he had gone down 
over the valley of Ajalon and the sea beyond. 

That was a specially interesting religious assembly — 
about thirty of us, fellow-travelers, and strangers casually 
met, over twenty of whom were Americans, and others 
from England, Scotland and Ireland, all speaking the 
same language, and having a common Christian faith, 
though belonging to different denominations. A Presby- 
terian minister, Eev. B. E. Booth, of Connecticut, read 
the first hymn, and the Scriptures containing an account 
of our Lord's sufferings and death, and offered prayer. 
A Baptist minister from Massachusetts, Eev. W. C. 
Child, led the singing, and a clergyman of the Dutch Be- 
formed church, Eev. E. B. Welch, from the State of New 
York, prayed at the close. 

A window just back of my temporary pulpit opened 
upon the ancient Pool of Hezekiah. In front, at the 
eastern end of the room, another window overlooked the 
site of the Temple and the Mount of Olives. A near 
glance at the left brought Calvary to view. What an 
interesting spot for those who sympathized with Christ 
and His religion, to hold a service to His honor ! We had 
been that day treading in His very footsteps, and behold- 
ing objects upon which He once looked. We had been 

along bv the place of His sorrow and conflict in the Gar- 

8 



122 



BEST DA YS IN' A JO UBNEY. 



den ; where lie was scourged and condemned in Pilate's 
Judgment Hall ; where He bore His own cross up the 
hill Calvary till He fainted under it ; where He was cruci- 
fied, entombed and rose from the dead. And these places 
were all now near us, and Christ Himself seemed pre- 
ciously near. 

In thought and sympathy we were carried back to the 
time when these wonderful events transpired. Our 
Saviour was before us and with us, the chief among ten 
thousand and the One altogether lovely. He must be 
our theme — the theme of our songs, our Scripture lessons, 
our prayers, our preaching. What He was and is, what 
He had done and suffered for us, filled our thoughts and 
deeply affected our hearts. Any theme but Christ and 
Him crucified would have been out of place. The hymns 
we sung were: "All hail the power of Jesus' name," 
"When I survey the wondrous cross," and "Jerusalem, 
my happy home ! " That precious Best Day in the 
City of the Great King will long be remembered. 



CHRIST ALONE. 



Preached on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, Lord's Day, 
March 18, I860. 

Isaiah Ixiii. 3. — i have trodden tee wine-press alone. 

>^^\HE central truth of the Old Testament as 
well as of the New is the world's Kedeem- 
er — the cross of Christ. In the text with 
its connected passages, the prophet seems to have 
a vivid dramatic vision of the suffering, dying 
Saviour. He sees Him as He approaches the end 
of His mission. He hears His voice. He com- 
prehends His all-important work as alone He 
drinks the cup of Gethseniane, and bears unaided 
the crushing burden of Calvary. He witnesses 
His steadfast endurance — His wondrous triumph. 
The bleeding Sufferer emerges from His tremen- 
dous trial and conflict a glorious Conqueror. He , 
has passed through a scene and accomplished a 
work for which none was fitted but himself. He 
has trodden the wine-press alone. There are po- 
sitions in the universe, in God's moral government, 

123 




124 



I? IS I DA YS IX A JO UIXIY. 



in the plan of Salvation, and in the sinner's heart, 
which Jesus only can fill. His person and char- 
acter are peculiar and unique. Several particulars 
are readily suggested which present His place and 
office as solitary and indivisible. 

I. Christ was alone in personally undertaking 
the work of salvation. It was God's purpose to 
make in this ruined world some of the brightest 
exhibitions of His benevolence, wisdom and 
power. Here, where Satan had succeeded in his 
temptations, where the human race had fallen, 
God determined to rear for Himself a kingdom 
which should finally prevail against the foe. Here 
where sin had abounded, grace should much more 
abound. Who could do this work, in view of the 
mighty obstacles to be overcome, the unparalleled 
outlay necessary, and the supreme exigencies it 
involved? Who is meet for the appointment, 
qualified for, or adequate to, the stupendous un- 
dertaking? Who can secure the pardon of the 
guilty, and yet abridge not the claims of the 
broken Law \ Who can sustain the integrity of 
the Divine Government, and yet cancel the rebel's 
transgression ? Who can open the door barred 
by infinite Justice, and let the prisoner go free ? 
What being, though clothed with any one of the 
attributes of Jehovah, could effect the salvation 



CHRIST ALONE. 



125 



of the lost. Mercy, heaven-descended angel, 
might pity and plead for them ; but Mercy could 
never atone for their guilt. Love, the very es- 
sence of Deity, might earnestly desire to redeem 
them from death, and lift them up into life and 
liberty; but Love cannot annihilate Justice. Those 
to be saved are sinners, rightly condemned. The 
curse of the Law they have violated, so good and 
glorious in its nature and purpose, so solemn and 
awful in its sanctions and penalty, is resting on 
them like the weight of eternity. And that Law, 
like its Divine Author, is unchangeable : it cannot 
be abridged ; it cannot be repealed. Who, then, 
can accomplish the required task, and harmonize 
Law and Justice in the redemption of sinful men ? 
Oh Earth ! canst thou furnish a Saviour ? Can 
any one of the human race, were he the 
worthiest and most virtuous of all, do this great 
work ? Alas ! such an one himself must perish, 
unless this work be done for him. Unable to save 
himself, what can he do towards lifting a world 
up out of its condemnation ? Heaven ! hast thou 
an angel adequate to the task ? Angels are de- 
pendent beings. In their various spheres they 
serve and glorify their Maker. This obligation 
limits their work. They cannot save even one of 
the fallen spirits, or rebel angels. How then can 
they achieve the world's redemption ? They may 



126 BEST DA YS ZV A JO UBNEY. 



earnestly desire to look into the great mystery 
and scan its wonders, but the work itself exceeds 
the utmost reach of their ability. 

The birds sing their glad welcome to the life 
and loveliness of a vernal season ; but they have 
no power to renew the face of the earth and cover 
it with beauty and bloom. So those immortal 
songsters of Paradise, the holy angels, may fill 
all heaven with joy when a sinner repents ; but 
they never could produce the new creation over 
which they rejoice. Could God the Father, in 
His absolute character, do this work, without the 
mediation of His Son ? As far as we know, there 
was but one Being in the universe — oh give 
thanks and be grateful for the One — who could 
render the world's salvation possible, and that 
was Jesus Christ. "Lo, I come/ 7 said He, " to 
do thy wiU, God." 

n. Christ tv as alone in the Divine incarnation. 
This sacred mystery was essential to the work of 
redemption. In this appears its wonderful adap- 
tation, its astonishing efficacy. In u the fullness 
of time God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, 
made under the law." " In the beginning was 
the Word, and the Word was with God and the 
Word was God. And the Word was made flesh 
and dwelt among us." " Without controversy, 



CHRIST ALONE. 



127 



great is the mystery of godliness : God was man- 
ifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of 
angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in 
the world, received up into glory." 

Here is a fact of infinite interest and import- 
ance. Here is a truth, one of the most remark- 
able and marvelous in the whole compass of Rev- 
elation — the incarnation of Deity, the advent of 
Christ into our world, the Son of God born of 
the virgin Mary in yonder Bethlehem. This won- 
derful event stands by itself. Nothing in the 
universe is like it. Immanuel, God with us, be- 
coming a helpless infant in the amis of a human 
mother, and passing through the various stages 
of an earthly existence. Amazing fact ! Mystery 
of mysteries ! Jehovah-Jesus, 

" Frora the highest throne of glory 
To the cross of deepest woe, 
Came to ransom guilty captives ! — 
Flow my praise, forever flow !" 

The almighty and glorious Creator, by whom 
and for whom are all things, made His abode 
with sinful men in the humblest walks of life. 

This is a solitary instance. No being from 
another world has ever done the like. None has 
come from a distant sphere — from some pure star 
in the heavens — to make earth his home. Angels 



123 



REST DA YS IN A JO UEXEY. 



at different rimes and on special occasions, have 
visited our world ; but they have never become 
its inhabitants. There is no record of one ever 
being born or having died on these mortal shores. 
We sometimes in our communings with God, in 
our thoughts and visions of Heaven, in a solemn 
nearness to death under the power of disease or 
at the departure of a dear friend, seem to linger 
a little on the confines of another world ; but we 
have not yet entered its portal, nor breathed its 
immortal air, nor experienced its sublime reality. 
So angel messengers, feeling a deep and strange 
sympathy in our behalf, may be around and 
among us, but they are not of us j we are not 
linked to them by any ties of kindred. But God 
the Redeemer came nearer to us than they. He 
crossed the profound and awful chasm, caused by 
sin. that lay between the Divine and human. 
"He took on Him the seed of Abraham" that He 
might grasp and encircle us in all the powerful 
sympathies of kindred and brotherhood. And 
oh, what treasures, what gifts of life and love, of 
hope and immortality, He brought with Him and 
laid at our feet ! 

Great men have appeared in different ages and 
at distant epochs, who have shed the light of 
their genius upon the world and by their deeds 
changed the current of its history. The heavens 



CHRIST ALONE. 



129 



have opened at their glance, and in beautiful 
order have gathered into constellations, spheres 
and systems. The earth, summoned and ques- 
tioned by science, has revealed her laws and dis- 
closed her treasures. And mind itself, acquiring 
new vigor from its investigations, has ventured 
on flights and made discoveries, not only aston- 
ishing in themselves, but to-day affecting all the 
interests of the world's civilization. Confucius, 
in wisdom, towered above his countrymen like 
the princely oak in the forest. Socrates, rising 
superior to his age, seemed almost to break 
through into the region of Divine illumination. 
Calvin, in theological discrimination and state- 
ment, was an Alpine summit among his contem- 
poraries. Newton, grasping some of the simplest 
laws of nature, was borne aloft to a grander sur- 
vey of the system of the universe. Washington, 
in defence of human right and freedom, and as an 
example of moral virtue, patriotic devotion and 
self-sacrifice, stands forth in unparalleled grand- 
eur. Yet these, in all their greatness, were only 
men. They were of the earth, earthy. But when 
Jesus appeared, " though found in fashion as a 
man/ 7 He was in reality " the Lord from heaven. 77 
And how does all science pale before His reveal- 
ings of truth, life and immortality ? When He 
spoke to man, what gleams of hope shot into the 



130 REST DA YS Z.Y A JO URNEY. 



gloora of despair ! Before His instructions, how 
the mists of error and the clouds of ignorance 
vanished away ! He pointed to the skies, and 
disclosed a pathway to the glorious regions that 
lie beyond the stars ! He planted the seeds of 
the great Banyan-tree of the gospel, which shall 
take root in every land, and whose branches, 
bending to the ground and rising to the sky, 
bathed in the light and vocal with the music of 
heaven, shall overshadow the whole earth. 

Many distinguished men have been born into 
the world ; but we see Jesus as the alone God- 
man. The Incarnation is an event that stands by 
itself in a unique and sublime isolation. And 
when we think of its design and our relation to 
it, how does it rise in greatness and value, and 
impress us by its infinite importance ! Other 
events may engross attention for a season, but, in 
its bearings on human weal and destiny, this im- 
measurably surpasses them all. And its impor- 
tance will increase. As earth fades and its vani- 
ties recede, as life wanes into the shadow of death, 
and the world to come draws near, with its certain 
judgment and everlasting awards, your relation to 
the Christ of God, the incarnate Bedeemer, will 
tower into an interest that overshadows every 
thing else. Eternity will not be too long to 
lament your folly, if you have not availed your- 



CHRIST ALONE. 



131 



selves of the gracious offer of salvation, nor too 
long to utter your grateful rejoicings if, with 
penitent and believing hearts accepting it, you 
have been made partakers of the Divine nature. 

"Dear Lord and Saviour ! for thy gifts 
The world were poor in thanks, though every soul 
"Were to do naught but breathe them, every blade 
Of grass, and every atomie of earth 
To utter them like dew." 

III. Christ ivas alone perfect in His human life, 
and essentially Divine in His ministrations. In 
this two-fold nature He lived here humble and 
obedient as a creature, yet exercising the authority 
and power of the Creator. As God, He was the 
Author of the Law ; as Man, He obeyed it to 
perfection. " He did no sin, neither was guile 
found in His mouth." Here He stands alone. 
Patriarchs and Prophets under the former dispen- 
sation, and Apostles and saints under the gospel, 
though eminent servants of God, and occupying 
by His appointment positions of great responsi- 
bility and usefulness, have not been free from 
imperfection and sin. Moses, with all his meek- 
ness and wisdom, sometimes erred. David, a man 
after God's own heart though he was, experienced 
the bitterness of repentance for his transgression. 
Paul and Barnabas, chosen servants of our Lord, 



132 



REST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



separated from each other amid sharp contention. 
So imperfection attaches more or less to all human 
beings. The most Godly and sagacious are not 
free from sin. Not so with Jesus. No blemish 
was ever discovered in Him. No infirmities 
marred the resplendent integrity of His character. 
His example was perfect. Amid temptations and 
conflicts, privations and sorrows, misrepresenta- 
tion and insult, calumny and cruelty, He never did 
a wrong act, indulged an evil thought, or con- 
tracted the least taint of impurity. Oh, what a 
treasure earth held in Him — a Being of sinless 
perfection ! 

Look at His ministrations — His works of mercy 
and of might. Here He is preeminent and alone, 
excelling all who have preceded and followed Him. 
Whether He opened His lips as a Teacher or 
commanded a miracle, " never man spake like this 
Man." "We are astonished at the number and 
variety of His mighty works, some of them 
recorded, others only hinted at in the Gospel 
narratives. He controlled the elements of nature; 
exercised dominion over evil spirits; cured instan- 
taneously prolonged and fatal diseases ; and re- 
stored to life the dead and buried. Everywhere 
He scattered mercy and blessing, life and salva- 
tion. And all this supernatural energy and 
omnipotent power were inherent and original. In 



CHRIST ALONE. 



133 



this respect He differed from other miracle- 
workers, whether prophets or apostles. To tiiem 
superhuman power was delegated, and they 
exercised it through some instrumental object or 
in the Divine Name. The mighty deeds of Moses 
in Egypt are associated wdth the rod in his hand. 
He must stretch that wondrous staff over the Red 
Sea, and cast the branch into the bitter fountain 
of Marah, to see desired results. But Jesus has 
only to speak and will. u Be whole !" and health 
returns. "Arise!" and the sleeping dead awakes. 
u Come forth!" and the tomb gives back its trust. 
" Peace, be still !" and the tumultuous billows are 
calmed. Most convincingly He proved the 
assertion, " I am the Resurrection and the Life." 
And obedient wind and wave and storm recognized 
in Him their God. Apostles ascribed their 
miraculous power to Him. To the cripple at 
yonder Beautiful Gate they said : " In the name of 
Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk." But Christ 
said to those whom He healed : "J will, be thou 
clean ; Thou deaf and dumb spirit, I charge thee 
to come out of him;" and to the dead son of the 
widow of Nain, u Young man, I say unto thee, 
arise !" Thus did the miracles of Jesus surpass 
all others, vindicating His Messiahship and 
symbolizing the future triumphs of the gospel. 



134 REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



IV. Christ was alone in the nature of His suffer- 
ings and death. Suffering is the result of sin. 
1 1 follows the violation of law. Whoever sins 
against God, or against himself, must suffer. Our 
Lord taught this when He charged the impotent 
man whom He healed at Bethesda's pool, to sin 
no more, lest a worse thing come upon him. 
But our Lord's sufferings had no such origin. In- 
tense as they were beyond all that mortal ever 
experienced or conceived, they were endured by 
a Being of spotless innocence. When He bowed 
under the agony of the Garden, and prayed that, 
if it were possible, that cup might pass from 
I lim ; when His soul was exceeding sorrowful, 
even unto death ; that bloody baptism of anguish 
overwhelmed Him, not in consequence of any sin 
or guilt of His own. It w r as the hour and power 
of darkness, a terribly fierce and bitter conflict 
with Satan, and the crushing weight of a world's 
iniquities, whose awful pressure He sustained. 
It w^as the Innocent suffering, resisting, enduring 
for the guilty, that the guilty might escape eternal 
condemnation and wrath. It was the Divine 
Saviour, as a voluntary substitute for the sinner 
under the law, that He might become " the end 
of the law for righteousness to every one that 
believeth." " Surely He hath borne our griefs, 
and carried our sorrows." He trod the tuine-press 



CHRIST ALONE. 



135 



alone. "And the Lord hath laid on Him the 
iniquity of us all" — 

" That He who gave man's breath might know 
The very depths of human woe." 

A skeptic once said : " Socrates died like a 
philosopher, but Jesus Christ like a God !" Ah ! 
there is but one Calvary in the world, one cross 
of expiation, one vicarious Victim, one expiring 
Saviour whose blood is efficacious to atone for 
sin. The death of that Saviour stands out in the 
universe by itself in unparalleled sublimity and 
moral grandeur. That was the culminating point 
in the great Propitiation, the tremendous crisis 
where the hope of our race was centered and 
suspended. Oh, what a scene for earth and 
heaven to witness ! There stood the Redeemer 
firm to His purpose, bearing up the burden of a 
condemned and dying world. And only Jesus 
could stand there. 

Martyrs have died for their faith, patriots for 
their country, but there has been no death in our 
world like that of Christ. Were it possible for 
man to give a thousand lives, " None can by any 
means redeem his brother, or give to God a ran- 
som for him." u But God commendeth His love 
toward us in that while we were yet sinners 
Christ died for us." When some men die bene- 



136 



BEST DA YS IN A JO TJRNEY. 



fits accrue to others. Places may be left for 
them to occupy, or wealth to possess. Bat there 
is no moral virtue in any human death. Could 
the touching lament of the heart-broken king have 
been realized — " Would God I had died for thee, 
Oh Absalom, my son, my son !" — it would not have 
availed for the rebellious soul. But from the 
death of Christ what benefits ! It opened for the 
world a door of salvation. It bridged the gulf 
that separated man from God — earth from heaven. 
In that death Justice and Forgiveness blended, 
" Mercy and Truth met together, Righteousness 
and Peace kissed each other f and so " God was 
in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." 

Jesus came into the world to die. That event 
was always before Him. He frequently alluded 
to it; He desired its fulfillment. " I have a bap- 
tism to be baptized with, and how am I strait- 
ened till it be accomplished." As it drew near 
and He saw it in all its dread and unutterable 
reality, He knew He must endure it alone. He 
had always had a few sympathizing disciples and 
friends, and the constant presence and aid of His 
Father. But now in the very darkest scene of 
trial and pain comes the heavy shadow of deser- 
tion. As the terrible tragedy proceeded, where 
w T ere His disciples ? u Of the people there was 
none with me." As the weight of the world's 



CHRIST ALONE. 



137 



guilt rested upon Him in that dark and awful 
hour, under a sense of abandonment He exclaim- 
ed, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
me ?" Was not this the supreme moment when 
He tasted death for those who otherwise in the 
outer gloom of the second death w r ould have been 
forever separated from God ? " He trod the wine- 
press alone." He emerged from that scene of 
conflict and endurance a triumphant victor — man's 
great enemy conquered, and the world in posses- 
sion of a finished redemption. His garments 
were dyed with the blood of atonement. In 
His wonderful resurrection, self-summoned and 
achieved, He appeared " glorious in His apparel, 
traveling in the greatness of His strength, speak- 
ing in righteousness, mighty to save." 

Where shall we find a parallel to all this ? Has 
another such scene anywhere transpired ? Is 
another such fact lodged in any part of the uni- 
verse ? History ! thou hoary chronicler of the 
past, unroll thy records, disclose their wonders, 
and search out all thou hast forgotten to write — 
wilt thou find another event like this ? Prophet ! 
that gazest down the ages to come, and seest all 
that is glorious and marvelous in the future — say, 
is it there ? Ye worlds, that sweep the circle of 
the heavens, which of you has been the place 
where God ivas manifest in the flesh f Where in 

9 



138 



REST DA YS IjV A JO URJSTEY 



all your realms has a Saviour died ? Affected, 
perhaps, by the influence of that death, restrain- 
ing, saving, glorious — yet it transpired not with 
you ! Oh earth, rebellious earth ! how has Jeho- 
vah looked upon thee, and visited thee, and made 
thy one and only Golgotha the center of a system 
before which the stars in yonder canopy shall 
fade, and all material splendors vanish away ! 

V. Christ is alone as an Intercessor and Media- 
tor. u For there is one God and one mediator 
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." 
Since His triumphant ascension, He occupies the 
throne of intercession to mediate and plead in 
behalf of sinners. Only through Him may we 
have access to God and heaven. The services 
and ceremonials of the Jewish priesthood were 
superseded by the incoming of the Christian dis- 
pensation, with its more excellent ministry, 
wherein Jesus "is the Mediator of a better cov- 
enant, which was established upon better prom- 
ises." Priestly orders and functions, sacerdotal 
sacrifices and ceremonies, founded on offices and 
rites of the Jewish economy, are like the employ- 
ment of an obsolete agency that has fulfilled its 
purpose and been dismissed. It is as though a 
man, after the completion of his edifice, should 
insist on retaining as a part of the building, the 



CHRIST ALONE. 



139 



scaffolding, the ropes and the ladders, which had 
once been needful and proper, but are now not 
only useless, but an incumbrance and blemish. 

In the New Testament, believers, wherever 
found, "are an holy priesthood to offer up spir- 
itual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus 
Christ." They are to execute the commission 
or commands of the only Head and Lawgiver of 
the Christian church, and thus show forth the 
praises of Him who called them out of darkness 
into His marvelous light." Jesus is the High 
Priest of their profession, who is passed into the 
heavens, hath an unchangeable priesthood, and 
" is able to save them to the uttermost that come 
unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make 
intercession for them." To Christ we must come 
directly and personally, in penitence and faith, 
and through His atoning merit find acceptance 
with God. Through other methods, whether of 
idolatry or superstition or ceremony, men are ever 
asking as did the Pharisees of Jesus, " What 
shall we do that we might work the works of 
God ?" His reply was : " This is the tvork of God, 
that ye believe in Him ivhom He hath sent." The 
only Mediator hath said : " I am the door ; by me 
if any man enter in he shall be saved." u I am 
the way, the truth, and the life ; no man cometh 
unto the Father but by me." Inspired Apostles 



140 REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



have added : u Other foundation can no man lay 
than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus. v ''Neither 
is there salvation in any other ; for there is none 
other name under heaven given among rnen, 
whereby we must be saved. 77 

Such, brethren, is Jesus the Son of God, sep- 
arate and singular in His character and position, 
as He appears in undertaking the work of salva- 
tion, in the incarnation, in His life and deeds, in 
His sufferings and death, in His mediation and 
intercession. Hence I observe : — 

1. While Jesus is our only He is also our all- 
sufficient Saviour. Included among the lost 
whom He came to seek and save, when we see 
His adaptation to His great work, and realize our 
need, we feel that there is none but Christ. All 
our merits, works, hopes, — what are they without 
Him ? Oh Jesus ! 

" Should ray zeal no respite know, 
Should my tears forever flow, 
All for sin could not atone, 
Thou must save, and thou alone." 

What attributes, excellences, riches, unuttera- 
ble attractions center in Christ ! " Unto you 
therefore which believe, He is precious — the 
u Chiefest among ten thousands, the One alto- 



CHRIST ALONE. 



141 



gether lovely." He is our Life, our Hope, our 
Peace, our Joy. And we are complete in Him, 
in whom all fullness dwells; and "who of God 
is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and 
sanctification and redemption." He is all this to 
every believer of every name in every place. In 
gladness and gloom, in prosperity and adversity, 
in life and death, here and hereafter, He is their 
all-sufficient and eternal portion. Every renewed 
heart must breathe the grateful and adoring aspi- 
ration : u Whom have I in heaven but thee, and 
there is none upon earth that I desire besides 
thee." 

2. If Jesus be the only Saviour, without faith 
in Him there is no salvation. A sinner out of 
Christ i& a sinner lost. A world without the 
knowledge of Christ, is a world lying in darkness 
and the shadow of death. But u whosoever be- 
lieveth on Him shall not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." There must be something more 
than intelligence, refinement and wealth, splendid 
churches and gorgeous ceremonials, correct morals 
and even hearing and speaking the name of Jesus; 
there must be a personal apprehension and accept- 
ance of Christ by faith, as a spiritual act of self- 
renunciation, trust, and submission to Him. To 
be saved is to have Christ in the heart and Christ 
in the life. He only is a true Christian who be- 



142 



REST DA YS IX A JO VI2XJ:Y. 



lieves, and aims to live according to the gospel. 
That is only a true church whose members are 
regenerate, holding Christ as the Divine Head 
and sole Mediator and Intercessor before God. 
That only is a true ministry that preaches Christ 
as He is ; as Apostles preached Him ; Christ and 
Him crucified. Christ first, Christ last, Christ 
always, Christ alone. " God forbid that I should 
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I 
unto the world. w 

3. How great the guilt and condemnation of 
him who rejects the only Saviour ! To despise, 
by indifference or otherwise, the Christ of God, 
to trample upon His mercy, and turn from the 
pleadings of His love, must insure an awful 
doom. u How shall we escape if we neglect so 
great salvation V 7 He that despised Moses' law 
died withous mercy. How aggravated then will 
be the punishment of him who perishes under 
the gospel! Come, oh friend! to Jesus, your 
only Refuge ! He has rendered your salvation 
possible — certain, if you believe. Reject Him — 
believe not — and your eternal ruin is inevitable. 
You must reap as you have sown ! 

4. How glorious the prospect of the believer 
in the one Saviour ! They who are His in a life 
of faith, love and obedience, participate in His 



CHRIST ALONE. 



143 



unspeakable riches. The glory of their salvation 
is in proportion to the greatness of the sacrifice 
that secured it. All things are theirs, life, death, 
the present, the future. What promises to cheer 
and support ; what a perpetual Comforter and 
Guide; what companionship, safety, joys, songs, 
by the way ; what mansions prepared in heaven ; 
what hope in the coming of the Lord ! " They 
shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts in that day 
when I make up my jewels." That day — the final 
day — fast approaches. Its highest glory will con- 
sist — not in its unparalleled scenes and attending 
events ; the vast and shining array of accompa- 
nying angels, the dazzling splendors of the great 
white throne, the sound of the Archangel's trum- 
pet waking all the dead, the stupendous exhibi- 
tion of power in the resurrection, the wrapping 
of earth in a sheet of flame, and rolling the heav- 
ens together as a scroll — not in any or all these 
will the Son of God find His highest and peculiar 
honors ; but rather in His ransomed people ; for 
u He will come to be glorified in His saints, and to 
be admired in all them that believe" 

We know much of Jesus in this world. We 
are united to Him by faith and love. His pres~ 
ence and blessing are with us. And as we linger 
in the places where He lived and taught and 
suffered and died, how near to us He seems ! 



144 



REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



But the day cometk when we shall see face to 
face and know as we are known. " When Christ 
who is our life shall appear, then shall we also 
appear with Him in glory. 7 ' Oh, in that day, 
free from sin and imperfection, we shall see in the 
Great Propitiation exhaustless treasures and en- 
rapturing glories. Our eyes will rest on new 
attractions at Bethlehem. We shall see Kazareth 
beaming as in the glory of a transfiguration, and 
Tabor's height shining as the mount of God. The 
lake of Galilee will be transparent and luminous 
as the sea of glass. Our undying interest in 
Gethsemane will grow deeper and more intense. 
Calvary will rise and bloom and brighten in its 
sublimest manifestation of Divine Love. The 
tomb where Jesus lay and whence He rose tri- 
umphant will seem radiant as the gate of Para- 
dise, and Olivet's summit of ascension will be 
crowned with a golden sunlight not of earth. 
Though these places that we visit and look upon 
now with such profound interest, as literal locali- 
ties may be changed, yet in their spiritual signifi- 
cance as connected with the great truths of our 
religion, they will remain forever, and as we 
comtenplate our interests associated therewith, 
from the serene heights of immortality, all our 
admiration of their value and glory will center 
in Cheist alone ! 



GETHSEMANE. 



Ye shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me 
alone. — John xvi. 32. 

Within the olive shade 

The Saviour see, 
As there he knelt and prayed, 

My soul, for thee; 
While cold and damp midnight, 
Pale moon and dim starlight 
Beheld thy strange sad sight, 

Gethsemane ! 

Even the faithful fail 

Vigils to keep; 
They sink behind the vail 

Of weary sleep. 
Jesus is left alone, 
Bowed on dank earth and stone, 
And thou dost hear his moan, 

Gethsemane ! 

145 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



Why is my Saviour there, 

In sighs and fears, 
Under a burdening prayer, 

In cries and tears? 
While sorrow's dread control 
O'erwhelins his holy soul, 
His blood to thee doth roll, 

Gethsemane ! 

He took the bitter cup 

His Father gave; 
Kesigned, he drank it up, 

My soul to save : 
Man's guilt and Satan's hate, 
Heart-crushing load so great, 
How death-like was its weighty 

Gethsemane ! 

Garden of love and woe, 

How dear to me ! 
I oft in spirit go, 

Jesus to see, 
Who gives me heavenly aid 
To pray as there he prayed, 
Within thy sacred shade, 

Gathsemane ! 




OLIVE-TREES IN GETHSEMANE. 



SERMON VI. 

THE LORD OUR HOME. 



New Haven, Conn, 



PREFATORY NOTES. 



^OON after my return home from nearly a year's 



tour in Europe and the East, the following sermon 



was preached. In a previous discourse I had given 
some account of my observations abroad and my happi- 
ness in again meeting my people and friends, as they 
thronged the sanctuary to welcome me back. But this 
sermon seems now the more suitable to be included in 
this series. 

After the service held on Mount Zion, mentioned in 
the last "Notes," we enjoyed other Rest Days of won- 
derful interest with precious services in Jerusalem, at 
the Sea of Galilee, and at Beirut. After leaving the 
last place our steamer stopped and gave us several hours 
on the islands of Cyprus and Rhodes, and we passed 
in full view of Patmos. We stayed a day at Smyrna, 
three or four at Constantinople, and another at Athens 
where, on Mars 5 Hill to over twenty fellow-travelers, 
I read Paul's address, (Acts xviu 22-31) standing where 
he stood, with some of the same temples in view that met 
his eye. W e made a short visit to France and England, 
and I heard Mr. Spurgeon preach again in London. 
Taking the American Steamship Adriatic at Southamp- 
ton, we had a successful homeward voyage. 




151 



THE LORD OUR HOME 



Preached in the First Baptist Church, New Haven, Conn., 
June 3 7 1860. 

Psalm XG. 1. — LORD, THOU HAST BEEN OUR DWELLING-PLACE IN 
ALL GENERATIONS. 

HAT a sweetly-cherished, ever-inspiring 
thought is home, to the wanderer in dis- 
tant lands! A blessed realization at his 
return, he looks again into the faces of loved 
ones, and finds refuge and rest in the one spot 
dearer than all the world. The text is a peculiar 
expression of the devout soul finding in the Lord 
Himself what is most attractive and precious in 
our domestic life. This beautiful and sublime 
Psalm, sounding like a solemn chant of hope and 
immortality along the aisles and arches of some old 
charnel-house, is styled, " A prayer of Moses, the 
man of God." One of the oldest of the Psalms, it 
is supposed to have been written in the wilderness 
about the time the spies brought back an evil re- 

153 




154 REST DA YS IN A JO UBNJSY. 



port of the land of Canaan. Then the period of 
human life was shortened. Then the Israelites 
were adjudged to a forty years 7 pilgrimage of tent- 
life, and to die in their wanderings. The actual 
"dying out of the older generation on account of 
their transgressions, and the threatened exclusion 
of Moses himself from the Promised Land, were 
exactly suited to produce such views of man's 
mortality and sinfulness as are here presented, but 
without destroying the anticipation of a bright 
futurity, such as really ensued upon the death of 
Moses, and is prospectively disclosed in the con- 
clusion of this Psalm." How appropriately then 
does the meek man of God look up from such a 
scene as was before him of painful journeyings, of 
transient tents, of sinful complainings, of pesti- 
lence and death, with a prayer toward heaven : 
"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all 
generations." The term dwelling-place contains 
exactly our idea of home, by which we denote 
the center of our domestic life and affections. 
Dr. J. A. Alexander renders the passage, " Lord, 
a home hast thou been to us, in generation and 
generation.'' I love to think of God as my Crea- 
tor, Preserver, Benefactor — my Father and 
Friend ; but there is something peculiarly sweet 
and blessed in the thought of His being my home, 
my dearest and most cherished dwelling-place. 



THE LORD OUR HOME, 



155 



Let us take hold of this idea and make it for a lit- 
tle time the subject of our meditations. 

The Lord our Home ! Is it not inspiring, 
precious, glorious, to rise up to the apprehension, 
the possession, the enjoyment of such a wonder- 
ful reality ? 

One of the first things associated with a home 
is that mentioned in the text, a place of dwel- 
ling, a shelter or refuge- — a spot where one 
can be enclosed and protected. The pioneer who 
goes out into the great forest or upon the wide 
prairie to obtain lands to subdue and cultivate, 
engages his earliest care to secure a shelter for 
himself. He must have a home even if it be a 
rude cabin hasty in construction and uncouth in 
appearance. Wild beasts may have their haunts 
about him, and he needs a protection from them. 
Storms may come gloomily and rage fiercely over 
his head, and he must have a retreat from them. 
Night, with its damp dews and chill airs, settles 
upon him, and he must have a covert from its 
darkness and ills. How utterly desolate and ex- 
posed his life without a home refuge ! The trav- 
eler in foreign lands and the pilgrim who wanders 
on the desert, as each day comes to a close, seek 
some protection of roof and walls, tent or cave, 
which for the time shall be as a home and hiding- 



156 REST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



place from exposure and danger. The family- 
group and even the lonely individual make it one 
of their first objects to have a dwelling-place. 
And thus in the hours of relaxation and toil, as 
in the hours of darkness and tempest, they find 
both a retreat and defense. Think of the tourist 
amid Alpine summits, and no friendly hospice at 
night-fall. Think of the desert wanderer lying 
down in the darkness where the robber or the 
wild-beast may prey upon him. Think of a fam- 
ily group of delicate women and tender children, 
without a roof, canopy or protecting wall to shield 
them from pitiless storms and biting cold. Yes, 
there is something indescribably sw T eet and refresh- 
ing in the kindly shelter of a home. We know 
how in some measure to appreciate and prize it. 

Now let us apply this to the blessed idea in the 
text. The Lord our home, and as such a sheltering 
refuge for us. And in Him what strength of roof, 
what thickness of walls, what certainty of protec- 
tion and defense that shelter has ! That home is 
a castle as well — a strong tower into which the 
righteous run and are safe. All over Europe are 
found grand old castles, vast in proportions, strong 
in construction, and surmounted with lofty towers. 
These were the homes of men in feudal times. 
There they were protected from hostile clans and 
kingdoms. But God is a refuge for us, a strong- 



THE LORD OUR HOME. 



157 



hold from the enemy. What a blessed shelter the 
trusting soul finds in Him ! And how much we 
need such a home ! Wanderers we all are, away 
from our Father's house — away from the home 
circle of original purity and love. All we like 
sheep have gone astray. We have broken from 
the fold, scorned its protection, refused its safety. 
We seek, we find, we make, we inhabit earthly 
homes. However humble we prize them and en- 
joy their shelter. But what can they do to pro- 
tect and save the soul, that more than the body 
needs a refuge % Satan smiles at castle walls, and 
Death laughs at bolts and bars. Oh, soul ! where 
is thy shelter % Out on the deserts of sin, a far 
wanderer from heaven, in regions swept by wrath- 
storms, and pierced by divine thunderbolts, where 
death-vapors fill the air, and fearful foes lurk by 
every path ; how and where wilt thou find a safe 
retreat, a welcome home? In God alone ; in the 
Good Shepherd, who came to seek and to save the 
lost. Hearing His call, obeying His voice, put- 
ting thy hand in His, thou art led back to thy 
Father's house ; there thou dost find a blessed 
home ; there thou art sheltered and safe. The 
Lord is thy tabernacle, and His pillar of cloud and 
fire is with thee. " Let storms of woe in whirl- 
winds rise," let dangers thicken, let sin accuse, 
and Satan throw his darts, let every human 



158 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UEXEY. 



expectation perish, and let even thine earthly 
house be dissolved : 

' 'Let sorrow's rudest tempest blow, 
Each cord on earth to sever, 
Our King says come, and there's our home 
Forever, oh, forever ! " 

Another idea associated with home is that of 
repose, quietude, rest. Weariness and lassitude, 
drooping vigor and the failure of elasticity of life 
and limb, we have all more or less experienced. 
Labor at length becomes painful, journeying and 
sight-seeing exhaust one's strength, excitement 
prolonged is burdensome, and even pleasure-hunt- 
ing becomes tiresome. Beyond a brief period of 
exertion or physical toil, the idea of rest becomes 
a powerful desire and a sweet anticipation. The 
workingman, whether he employ hand, head, or 
foot, body or mind, turns not only his thoughts 
but his steps toward home as a place of repose. 
There he forgets his toils, throws off his cares, and 
finds refreshing quiet, and a renewal of his 
strength. The traveler over the grand passes of 
the Alps thinks of the inn or hospice that his 
weary feet will reach as the shadows darken. The 
pilgrim in the East longs for the tree-shade or 
rock-shade where he may rest a little from the 
burning noon-day sun, and rejoices in the tent- 



THE LORD OUR HOME. 



159 



cover under which he may repose at night. And 
beyond these he looks wistfully to the dear home 
in the land he has left, and earnestly covets its 
rest again. The journeying Israelites in their des- 
ponding hours looked back to their dwelling-place 
in Egypt, and in their hopeful moments forward 
to the promised rest. And when they thought of 
the burdens and sorrows of the one, and how for 
their sins and unbelief they must be denied an en- 
trance to the other, where could they look, 
where could Moses the man of God look, but up- 
ward, and with the blessed assurance of the text ? 
61 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all 
generations." In thee we find a home. There, 
brethren, we look. There is our repose. There 
is the " Rock of ages cleft for me." There are 
the wings under whose shadow I trust. There 
are the everlasting arms on which I recline. There 
is the hiding-place to which I fly. Looking there 
I say, u Return unto thy rest, oh my soul." He 
who is a stranger to that dwelling-place, is virtu- 
ally without a home. Like Noah's dove over the 
wide waste of flood-waters, he has no place to 
rest. 

W e remember the days of impenitence and the 
hours of religious conviction, when we felt our 
isolation from God, and had a consciousness of 
being wretched wanderers, restless and forlorn, 



160 REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



without a home or refuge. Our mournful cry 
was, — 

" Oh, where shall rest be found, 
Best for the weary soul ? " 

Ah ! it is the soul, outside the walls of salvation, 
wandering on the plains of sin, or stumbling on 
the dark mountains of death, that most of all needs 
a home. But like the evil spirits that range over 
dry places seeking rest and finding none, it never 
enters a safe refuge, it never finds true repose, till 
it hears and obeys the sweet inviting and com- 
manding voice of Jesus : 66 Come unto me all ye 
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest." Here it is that we leave the restless, 
houseless, shelterless region of impenitence and 
sin, and enter the gates of righteousness w-hich 
the Lord in infinite mercy opens to us. Here in 
this new dwelling-place, beautiful, wonderful, 
sublime, the eye is delighted, and the heart is sat- 
isfied, and the whole being finds a heavenly quiet. 
Glorious habitation ! the soul that rests in thee 
may with the prophet, " Call thy walls Salvation 
and thy gates Praise." We value the spot that 
has given us rest for the night, that has shielded 
us from the prowling thief or hungry beast. We 
prize the quiet of our homes, where wearied toil 
lies down, and wasted energies recuperate. But 



THE LORD OUR HOME. 



161 



there is do rest so sweet, so blessed, so safe, so 
life-renewing as the soul finds when it comes home 
to God. As soul-weariness, soul-labor and soul- 
burdens, before the weight of sin and guilt is 
thrown off, are the most crushing and grievous, 
so the rest found in the Lord of life and salvation, 
is the most sweet and refreshing. Oh, blessed 
dwelling-place ! Happy are they whose home is 
there, whose rest is under the wings divine ! 

" They who have made their refuge God 
Shall find a most secure abode ; 
Shall walk all day beneath His shade, 
And there at night shall rest their head." 

Another and the crowning element of home is 
affection, pervading, binding, sweetening all its 
interests. Love is the life, glory and atmosphere 
of home. Friends, associates, classmates, fellow- 
travelers may form strong attachments, may re- 
joice in pleasant ties of friendship, and delight in 
their subsequent renewals. But this can scarcely 
be called love. It is a glimmer of sunlight on the 
landscape, but not the dear warm hearth-fire of 
home ; not the blessed blending of affections and 
sweet union of hearts that are the beauty and 
crown of the domestic circle. Love in its purest 
and most sacred forms lives and reigns in the home 
it has made, in the dwelling-place it has furnished 



162 



REST DA YS IN A JO UBNJEY. 



and adorned. " God setteth the solitary in fami- 
lies/ 7 creating the pure, strong and tender ties of 
wedded, parental and filial affection. Around the 
family honie, as the great and loving Father de- 
signed it, what sweet sympathies and heavenly 
associations cluster ! What a sanctuary of love ! 
What a type of Paradise ! It is a beautiful spot, 
like an Eden before the curse came ; like a garden 
where all choice, radiant and fragrant flowers 
spring up and blossom ; over which softest and 
balmiest breezes float, laden with celestial aroma ; 
where friendliest sunbeams delight to linger, and 
warm even the dull sod into life ; where most 
musical birds sing all day long in the tree-tops, 
and the forms of guardian angels seem to flit in 
the evening moonbeams, while Jehovah's blessed 
banner of love is a sweet and sheltering canopy 
over the whole scene. Happy are they all, old 
and young, who have in this world such a dwel- 
ling-place — such a hallowed home where the 
purest and best of human affections find their ap- 
propriate and congenial objects, and their true 
and harmonious development. Temporary sep- 
arations may occur ; wide seas and distant lands 
may intervene ; here business calls, and there 
study invites ; but the true and loving heart is 
turning ever to the one cherished place and center 
of attraction dearer than every other. 



THE LORD OUR HOME. 



1G3 



Lord, a liomc hast thou been to us. Is it not 
delightful thus to think of Him ? and to feel that 
in coming to Him we come to our Father's house, 
and are welcomed to the infinite riches of His lov- 
ing heart ? Thought is inadequate and language 
impotent to set forth the love that reigns in that 
home where God is the Father reverenced and 
obeyed with filial affection. Oh, the privilege of 
such a home, and how much we need it ! Under 
the most favored circumstances with regard to this 
world, what wandering, desolate, houseless fugi- 
tives our souls are that have no dwelling-place of 
love in God ! This wretched and unloving state 
of orphanage may not always be perceived ; in- 
deed, one may think little about it, until there 
comes a famine of earthly pleasures, and like the 
prodigal son he begins to be in w^ant, and comes 
to himself and sees the wretchedness of his condi- 
tion, and thinks of his Father's house with its 
abundant supplies. But he does not and cannot 
know of the fullness of the love that dwells there, 
that waits to welcome him there, that he himself 
may share and enjoy on his return hither. But 
he begins to realize it w x hen, notwithstanding ail 
his unworthiness and dreadful guilt, his Father 
comes a great way to meet him, falls on his neck 
and kisses him, in place of his tattered garments 
clothes him with the best robo, puts a ring upon 



164 REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



his finger and shoes upon his bare and bruised 
feet, makes for him a special and sumptuous feast 
enlivening his whole house with joy, and receives 
him with a depth of affection that welcomes 
the lost as found and the dead as alive again. 
What a beautiful illustration of that dwelling- 
place or home of love into which the converted 
soul comes ! Blessed home ! Happy day that 
brought me to thy threshold, and within thy gates, 
and to the society and fellowship of the ransomed 
family ! Is not this your experience, believing 
soul ? Once a lost wanderer, unsatisfied and des- 
olate, but now in mercy found and brought home 
to your Father's house and love ! Ay, I hear you 
sing : 

"No more a wayward child, 
I seek no more to roam, 
I love my heavenly Father's voice, 
I love, I love His home.'' 

Conscious of the meagerness of my attempts to 
set forth this rich theme, I wash I could make it 
so attractive that you all, every one, would be in- 
duced to find by blessed experience this home in 
the Lord ; that the tottering feet of the aged 
would go up to its threshold and be welcomed in 
by the good angels standing there ; that those 
whose tread is yet finn and strong would feel that 
they need a refuge there, and secure it now ere 



THE LORD OUR HOME. 



165 



their feet shall slide ; that those whose elastic step 
is ever bearing them away from the kind paternal 
roof, would turn and fly thither as clouds and doves- 
to their windows ; and that the patter of the dear 
children's feet might be heard going through its 
gates at the call of the Good Shepherd there. 

Among the Benefits of this Home, besides the 
refuge it supplies, the repose it gives, and the love 
that pervades it, think of the purity of its atmos- 
phere and surroundings. There is no deadly con- 
tagion there, no destroying malaria in the air, no 
poisonous plants grow upon those grounds, no 
polluting thing is to be feared. Those dwelling 
there have been cleansed in Life's flowing foun- 
tain ; their robes have been washed and made 
white m the blood of the Lamb. Their hearts 
have all been made new. Oh, blessed home ! how 
unlike all else is this world ! All else in this 
world bears the taint of sin. What evil com- 
munications meet us — what corrupt manners 
abound ! To what impure and fatal associations, 
and to what fearful paths and terrible dooms are 
the wanderers from God exposed ! How they fall 
into the horrible pit and sink into the miry clay ! 
But those in the household of faith are lifted above 
such perils. Delivered from the body o£ death, 
the old and unrenewed man with his deeds is put 



166 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



off, and the new man put on created after the 
image of Christ in knowledge and true holiness. 
There is a beauty of holiness that transcends all 
other beauty ; and this is the characteristic of 
those whose home is in God, and whose manhood 
finds its pattern in the Lord Jesus. Many a soul, 
conscious of its guilt and unfitness for holy associ- 
ations, and of its wretched orphanage and distance 
from heaven, has in the method of grace in the 
gospel, been brought home and made a beloved 
child, pure, loving and joyful in the family of God. 
Sweet and blessed home! Its portals are still 
open, and penitent souls are welcomed to its hap- 
py and heavenly associations. 

Think, again, of the peace that abounds in this 
home. The world is full of commotion, strifes, 
vexations, and all sorts of jarring interests. There 
may be a tranquil place here, and a little sheltered 
spot there, like a land-locked harbor or mountain 
vale, where clashing elements rage not ; but even 
there the soul needs the peace that Jesus gives, 
or its hours of unrest and anxious foreboding will 
not be few. Ah ! there is no soul-peace, no 
serene and hopeful calm for the mind, till it can 
say of the Lord, " Thou art my dwelling-place." 
There is found that perfect peace that casts out 
fear, that fortifies while it soothes and rejoices the 
soul. 



THE LORD OUR HOME. 



167 



Storms often sweep along the mountains, rage 
in the valleys, and desolate the plains. Dark 
clouds frown in the sky, obscure the heavens, and 
send forth in terrible commotions their lightnings 
and thunders. But above these storms and clouds 
all is tranquil and serene. The air is pure and 
unvexed. The breezes are bland and refreshing. 
The sun shines in a, clear and smiling sky. And 
around some mountain-top there, the birds flit, 
and sing their sweet melodies, and the tender 
flowers brighten and rejoice in the placid glory of 
their high abode. So is it with those who have 
come up to the heights of a divine love and faith, 
and have the Lord for their home. They dwell on 
high ; the munition of rocks is their defense ; 
they bask in the sunlight of Jesus' presence, and 
enjoy the heavenly peace He gives. 

Think, finally, of the perm anence of the blessings 
and privileges of this home. "Lord, thou hast 
been our dwelling-place in all generations." This 
world has its pleasures. Men seek and enjoy 
them. A certain happiness is found in various 
pursuits and stations. There is many a pleasant 
home where sympathy and love dwell, where dif- 
ferent attractions and clustering interests render 
such a home delightful, and for a time it may seem 
that nothing is wanting to complete its joy. But 
in all this there is nothing permanent. Time soon 



168 



BEST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



works its changes. Sickness and death come. 
The dearest circles are broken up. These earthly 
enjoyments are scattered and lost. Oh, then, how 
the soul needs a permanent home — attachments 
that nothing can weaken or destroy — treasures 
that neither time nor death can affect. Well, 
here they are in this Divine dwelling-place — the 
Lord our Home — giving us shelter, rest and love, 
that are ours continually and forever, bringing us 
into pure, holy and heavenly associations, en- 
throning a sweet and sacred peace in our minds 
that no adversities can shake or destroy, and 
making all our real blessings and joys and treas- 
ures permanent in every change of time or place, 
secure from the ravages of death, and enduring 
with us and for us through the endless ages of 
eternity ! 

Oh, what a glorious home ! Brother ! thou 
that hast ever come into the household, and known 
the Lord thy refuge, thou wilt not, canst not 
leave it for aught the world can give. And poor 
homeless soul, far from thy Father's house, here 
is hope and salvation for thee. Stay not where 
thou art. Arise, and go to Jesus this very hour, 
and soe how and with what joy to thee and to 
angels He will welcome thee home ! 



THE HEART'S HOME. 



God is love ; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and 
God in him. — I John iv. 16. 

O Lokd, in whom are all my springs, 

Joyful to thee I come; 
My grateful heart exultant sings 

To know thou art its home. 

The shelter of thy glorious arms, 

How strong and safe and sweet! 

From sense and sin, from all alarms, 
I fly to this retreat. 

There is my sure and tranquil rest, 

In every troubled hour; 
Weary, I lean upon thy breast, 

And feel its soothing power. 

In that dear place of purest love, 

What wings encircle me ! 
Naught in the world can ever move 

My trusting soul from thee. 
169 



REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



My Lord ! if now I find in thee 
So blest and sweet a home, 

What shall the heavenly mansion be 
When to its door I come? 



SERMON VII. 



OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE PILLAE 
OF CLOUD. 



Edinburgh., Scotland. 



II 



PREFATORY NOTES. 



*|RN order to make my book a little larger and give more 
I variety to its contents, I add the following sermons 
preached during my second tour abroad. 

The Atlantic voyage being completed, I proceeded at 
once from Liverpool to the beautiful city of Edinburgh, 
finding a congenial home with those dear friends, Mr. T. 
G. Douglas and family. I was soon called upon by a 
deacon of the Parish Church in that vicinity, and invited 
to preach the next Sunday morning in the absence of the 
pastor, Rev. J. M. Lang, who was then on a visit to the 
United States. As the time arrived, the deacon met me 
in the vestry, and brought the gown and bands belonging 
to the pastor that I might be arrayed according to the 
custom for the pulpit. The gown fitted well, but while 
trying to adjust the bands I asked if it were necessary to 
wear them, and found that if I did not, the people would 
think I was an unordained minister, since only licentiates 
omit them. The congregation was large and attentive, all 
seeming to join in the singing and prayers and Scripture 
lessons, being well supplied with Bibles and hymn-books. 

In the afternoon and evening I worshiped with the 
Dublin- St. Baptist church, it being the anniversary of the 
opening of their chapel, which they celebrate each year, 
engaging distinguished preachers. Bev. Alexander Mac- 
laren of Manchester preached in the morning and evening 
and Dr. W. Lindsay Alexander of Edinburgh preached 
in the afternoon. I was glad of an opportunity to hear 
175 



176 REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



them. The sermon in the evening to a crowded house, 
was one of rare excellence and power, fully up to the 
great reputation of the preacher. At the close of the 
afternoon service, Deacon Rose took us — Dr. S. Graves 
and myself — to his delightful home to dine in company 
with Dr Alexander, who is quite as genial as he is ample 
physically and intellectually. 

The next Sabbath morning I preached in this chapel on 
invitation of the venerable pastor, Rev. J. Watson, and his 
associate, Rev. Mr. Newnam. In the evening I heard the 
latter preach an excellent sermon. On another Lord's 
Day I heard in his cwn church with great pleasure Dr. 
H. Bonax whose sweet hymns we often sing. 



OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE PILLAR 
OF CLOUD. 



Preached in the National Presbyterian Church, 
Morning-side. Edinburgh, Scotland, 
Sabbath, June 23, 1872. 

Exodus xiv. 20. — it came between the camp of the Egyptians 

AND THE CAMP OF 18 t A EL; AND IT WAS A CLOUD AND DARK- 
NESS TO THEM, BUT IT GAVE LIGHT BY NIGHT TO THE&E. 



OU have often noticed that Egypt and the 
Egyptians are set forth in the Scriptures 
as typical of an unregenerate condition; 
or of those who refuse to worship the true God. 
On the other hand the Chosen People ? the subjects 
of the grand exodus ; symbolize in every age the 
true servants of Jehovah. The two classes are 
in the world together. But the one hears the 
voice that calls and recognizes the hand that 
delivers them from the bondage of sin, and leads 
them to the better land. The other remains 
where they are ? not careful to interpret aright 
and obey the Divine manifestations. It is re- 

177 



ITS 



REST DA YS IN A JO UEXEY. 



markable how this sharply-defined difference 
among men still exists. Here the problem of life 
has its solution. We are, we do, we shall be, 
according as we arrange ourselves with reference 
to God. in the disclosures He makes to us. And 
things will be dark or light, obscure or clear, 
glorious or otherwise, from the position in which 
we are found. If we assume and maintain a 
wrong position, there will be nothing but dark- 
ness, obscurity and doom. But if we listen to 
and obey the Divine voice, we shall live and walk 
and dwell in the light and smile of our Heavenly 
Father's face. 

The Chosen People had begun their march. 
They had reached the shore of the Red Sea. 
The mysterious Pillar of Cloud and Fire, the con- 
stant and most significant token of the Divine 
presence and guidance, went before them, hang- 
ing from the heavens in supernatural and sublime 
splendor. What more striking evidence could 
they have that God was with them, leading and 
defending them? They had not the Scriptures 
nor the experience of the ages that we have. 
They needed this wonderful Pillar, and God pro- 
vided it for them. The Angel of God was in it, 
the Angel of the Covenant, the same that was 
afterward made flesh and dwelt among men, — our 
Saviour and Guide. At the margin of the Sea, 



THE PILLAR OF CLOUD 



179 



the deep before them, and their foes pressing 
upon them behind, the Israelites were in a critical 
state ; but the Divine resources are adequate to 
every emergency. It was at this point that the 
Angel of God and the Pillar of Cloud, which 
had gone before them, changed to their rear ; and 
in the words of the text, "it came between the 
camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel ; 
and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it 
gave light by night to these." What was a light 
and guide to God's people was darkness and 
confusion to His enemies. So the one made the 
passage safely, and sang the song of triumph, 
and the other suffered defeat and miserably per- 
ished. The one, in accord with the Divine will, 
found light and help in the night of peril and 
trial. The other, opposed to that will, found 
what should have been light to them, if in the 
right, augmenting darkness deepening into doom. 
Here is the idea, the great truth, the impressive 
lesson, which the text flashes upon us. To the 
servants of God, to those who trust in Him, with 
loving, obedient hearts, who would ever know 
and do His will, a heavenly light shines ; and the 
most difficult problems and experiences of life 
have a deep and precious meaning and generally 
a clear and satisfactory solution. But to those 
who disregard God, who do not set Him before 



180 REST DA YS IiV A JO URNEY. 



them as the object of their highest reverance and 
love, these same problems and experiences are 
dark, cheerless, disappointing ; a tangled econo- 
my without significance, satisfaction or hope. 
To the one the great Power and Wisdom, order- 
ing all things, is light and guidance ; to the other, 
it is a cloud and darkness. This is true in the 
survey of the Bible, of nature, of providence, of 
the purpose of life, of death and eternity. Let 
us delay a little upon each of these. 

I. The Word of God. The Bible is a book 
for the eye of faith, for the appreciation of a 
renewed heart — food for a spiritually-illumined 
mind. It makes all the difference in the world 
from what stand-point you view it or accept it. 
If you take your position at Calvary — as a peni- 
tent believer at the foot of the cross — and in the 
light that flashes from the atonement, read and 
understand the Scriptures, enlightened by the 
Spirit that dictated them, they gleam as match- 
less pearls of truth. They are divinely inspired 
messages. There is a unity and a glory in them 
that fill and thrill the soul. Their history is the 
history of redemption. Their prophecies are of 
the coming and establishment of the gracious 
kingdom. Their fulfillment in the New Testa- 
ment is the complement and confirmation of the 



THE PILLAR OF CLOUD. 



181 



Old. Every promise has its pledge ; every invi- 
tation its endorsement ; every revelation its real- 
ity. God's truth is the mirror of the human soul. 
It discloses its sad condition and deepest want. 
It brings to view also all that the soul needs to 
renovate and restore it and make it divine and 
Godlike. It opens to it a home of safety, where 
it may rest and feast and dwell. It lets it into 
gardens where purest fountains flow, all whole- 
some and delicious fruits are found, and sweetest 
songs of birds delight the ear. To Christian 
faith and experience the Bible is the light of God. 
It reveals Him on the throne, infinitely wise and 
good. The feeblest of His children is cared for 
and safe. It makes this life a school for heaven, 
and every severe lesson, every intricate problem, 
is a discipline and preparation for the future and 
better life. To the new-born soul, the Bible is 
a new book; God's light shining into the heart 
and unfolding His gracious purposes; a lantern 
in the hand of Jesus leading His follower safely 
and joyously onward to the world of glory. 
With this light shining upon them, the saints 
can go through every Bed sea and wilderness in 
their path to heaven, and shout the victory on 
the farther shore. 

But this book, so bright and guiding to God's 
people, is a cloud and darkness to His persistent 



182 



REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



enemies. They view it from the sinful, earthly, 
Egyptian side. They are not in sympathy with 
it, and do not comprehend it. The natural man 
cannot discern the things of the Spirit. Instead 
of coming to God through the Bible, the only 
medium in which He is truly or clearly seen, 
many thrust into His face their oppositions of 
science falsely so called, their philosophy and vain 
deceit, darkening counsel by their many words, 
and by their theories making confusion worse 
confounded. No wonder the Bible is dark to 
those who will not receive the light of God, and 
who reject the truth as it is in Jesus. They are 
with the Egyptians and not with the Chosen 
People. All true science and true philosophy 
will be in harmony with God and His word, and 
will find their highest and best interpretation 
there. But to stand in opposition to God, His 
revelation will be as cloud and darkness. It will 
be Sinai without Calvary ; winter with no sum- 
mer; night with no day; wrath without mercy; 
sin without redemption; and death without life. 
The Bible is a dark book to those who have no 
sympathy with its profound spiritual truths, and 
no reverential love toward its Divine Author. 

To faithless souls Heaven's clear and guiding light 
Is lost in cloud and ever-darkening night. 



THE PILLAR OF CLOUD. 



183 



II. The Works of God — Nature — or God's 

MANIFESTATION OF HlMSELF IN HlS CREATION. 

They* are like the Pillar between the two camps. 
The devout, joyous believer interprets Nature in 
its appearance, language and voice, very differ- 
ently from the unbeliever. The one everywhere 
sees with delight the presence, providence, wis- 
dom and power of God. These, pervading all 
nature, give beauty and glory to the grandest 
and minutest scenes and objects. The skeptic 
may have an appreciation of the beautiful and 
sublime in the material creation, but if he does 
not see a personal and infinite God in them to 
love and adore and trust in, he fails of the highest 
enjoyment. The brightest adorning of the out- 
ward world and the calm face of heaven, and the 
sweetest loveliness of the Creator's w r orks, so 
radiant with the Divine glory, are as cloud and 
darkness to him. If you stand outside some 
grand religious temple and look at its exquisitely 
stained and figured windows, you see nothing 
but dull, blurred and indistinct enameling. But, 
when you enter the building, how clear and 
beautiful the colors appear in the light ! So is it 
in the temple of God's creation. Study nature, 
with no reference to light pouring through it 
from God, but for itself alone, there is nothing 
better seen than the mere material enameling. 



184 



BEST DA YS IN A JO TJRNEY. 



But stand within, a true worshiper of God, and 
the soul, looking up to the light, not only beholds 
the beautiful forms and colors, but understands 
their meaning and symbolism. "Where the unbe- 
liever sees in nature nothing but outward forms 
and various combinations of matter, the believer 
observes in every hill a Calvary or an Olivet; 
every mountain a Sinai or Tabor ; every brook 
or river is a reminder of the stream that makes 
glad the city of God ; and the starry garden of 
the skies is filled with budding hopes of immor- 
tality. The thoughts of God are revealed to us 
in the book of nature. As Spurgeon says, In 
the thunder and lightning, His grand and terrible 
thoughts ; in the sunshine and the breeze, His 
loving and tender thoughts ; in waving harvests, 
His careful and bounteous thoughts ; from moun- 
tain-top and valley, His brilliant thoughts; and 
from the flowers that blossom at our feet, His 
sweet, pleasant, beautiful thoughts. Does the 
unrenewed heart perceive or enjoy them % 

Let me give you a fine passage from one though 
a pantheist, yet a most careful observer of nature. 
u All things/' he says, " are engaged in writing 
their history. The planet, the pebble, goes 
attended by its shadow. The rolling rock leaves 
its scratches on the mountain ; the river, its 
channel in the soil ; the animal, its bones in the 



THE PILLAR OF CLOUD. 



185 



stratum ; the fern and leaf, their modest epitaph 
in the coal. The falling drop makes its sculpture 
in the sand or the stone. Not a foot steps into 
the snow or along the ground, but prints, in 
characters more or less lasting, a map of its 
march. Every act of the man inscribes itself in 
the memories of its fellows, and in his own man- 
ners and face. The air is full of sounds, the sky 
of tokens, the ground is all memoranda and sig- 
natures, and every object covered over with hints, 
which speak to the intelligent." This is beauti- 
ful and suggestive; but as the author rejects 
Christ and Divine Eevelation, he sees no loving 
Father, and no symbol of Divine mercy, no lesson 
of salvation. As to these, all is cloud and dark- 
ness. 

Let me now give you a passage from a Chris- 
tian's standpoint, and see what light breaks forth 
to devout souls from things about us. " What 
wonderful provision God has made for us, spread- 
ing out the Bible into types of nature ! What 
if every part of your house should begin to 
repeat the truths which have been committed to 
its symbolism ! — the lowest stone w r ould say, in 
silence of night, c Other foundation can no man 
lay. ? The corner-stone would catch the word, 
i Christ is the corner-stone.' The taper burning 
by your bedside would stream up a moment to 



186 REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



tell you, i Christ is the light of the world.' If 
3^011 gaze upon your children, they reflect from 
their sweetly sleeping faces the words of Christ, 
6 Except ye become as little children.' If, wak- 
ing, you look towards your parents' couch, from 
that sacred place God calls Himself your Father 
and your Mother. Disturbed by the crying of 
your children, who are afflicted in a dream, you 
rise to soothe them, and hear God saying, 6 So 
will I wipe away all tears from your eyes in 
heaven.' Returning to your bed, you look from 
the window. Every star hails you, but, chief- 
est, 'the Bright and Morning Star.' By and by 
flaming from the East, the flood of morning 
bathes your dwelling, and calls you forth to the 
cares of the day ; and then you remember that 
God is the Lord, and that heaven is bright with 
His presence. Drawn by hunger you approach 
the table. The loaf whispers as you break it, 
6 Broken for you ;' and the wheat of the loaf 
sighs, 6 Bruised and ground for you.' The water 
that quenches your thirst says, i I am the water 
of life.' If you wash your hands yo i can but 
remember the teachings of spiritual purity. If 
you wash your feet, that hath been done sacredly 
by Christ as a memorial. The very roof of your 
dwelling hath its utterance, and bids you look for 
the day when God's house shall receive its top 



THE PILLAR OF CLOUD. 187 



stone. Go forth to your labor, and what thing 
can you see that hath not its message ? The 
ground is full of sympathy. The flowers have 
been printed with teachings. The trees that only 
seem to shake their leaves with sport, are framing 
divine sentences. The birds tell of heaven, with 
their love-warblings in the green twilight. The 
sparrow is a preacher of truth. The hen clucks, 
and broods her chickens, unconscious, that, to 
the end of the world, she is part and parcel of a 
revelation of God to man. The sheep that bleat 
in the pastures, the hungry wolves that blink in 
the forest, the serpent that glides noiselessly in 
the grass, the raven that flies heavily across the 
field, the lily over which his shadow passes, the 
plough, the sickle, the wain, the barn, the flail, 
the threshing-floor, — all of them are consecrated 
priests, unrobed teachers, revelators, that see no 
vision themselves, but that bring to us thoughts 
of truth, contentment, hope, and love. All are 
ministers of God. The whole earth doth praise 
Him, and show forth His glory." 

III. God's Providential dealings with His 
creatures. They are like the Pillar of Cloud 
between the two camps — dark, dreadful and 
meaningless to some, but light, guiding, and full 
of the best lessons to others. Without a saving 



188 



REST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



knowledge of God, without implicit confidence 
in His infinite wisdom and goodness and love, 
without faith in Christ and trust in the precious 
promises of the gospel, one is all afloat on a 
stormy sea, under darkened heavens, in a rudder- 
less vessel, and drifting he knows not whither. 
Disappointments come, and there is no compen- 
sation. The bleeding, sorrowing heart finds no 
healing, soothing balm. Losses and bereave- 
ments bring no fresh, rich, sweet experiences of 
Divine grace and love. The soul is in a cheerless 
solitude and a desert waste, its life-plans in dis- 
order, its hopes wrecked, and breathing out on 
listless air its vain regrets and unanswerd ques- 
tionings. Oh, if you have pity to feel and be- 
stow, think of those in deep affliction and trial, 
who have no Father, no Saviour, no heavenly 
Comforter, no blessed and everlasting Refuge and 
promises, to fly to, and cling to, and rest in ! 
They are in the Red Sea with the Egyptians. 
Others, who have these supports, may be in the 
same sea, but the cloudy Pillar is light to them, 
and the shore and the song are before them ! 

To the trusting beliver, how clear or certain is 
the ruling hand in each event of life ! All in- 
tricate vicissitudes are plain to the eye of God. 
Ail tangled allotments fulfill His purpose ; and 
all things, however unlikely in our view, work 



THE PILLAR OF CLOUD. 



189 



together for good to them that love Him. You 
go into a mechanic's shop, and see various sorts 
of tools ; some have crooks, hooks or angles ; 
others are of different shapes. You do not con- 
demn these instruments because they do not all 
look handsome or straight. The mechanic makes 
use of them all in doing his work. So with God's 
providences ; they may sometimes seem to us 
crooked and strange, yet they all carry on His 
work. I remember seeing in Paris some fine 
Gobelin tapestry, with history and pictures 
wrought into it with wonderful symmetry and 
beauty. Look at the wrong side of it, and you 
see threads, patches and dim outlines all in con- 
fusion. So with many providences ; we can 
make nothing out of them from the wrong side ; 
but look from the side where God looks upon 
them and brings them out in the warp and woof 
of His work and wisdom, and what admirable 
order and wonderful tracings of Divine and loving 
skill ! 

IV. Life's Purpose or Exd. It is seen or 
overlooked according as we place ourselves with 
reference to God's revelation. Many seem to 
live with no higher purpose than this world can 
give. Witness their pursuits, their plans, the 
ends they propose to themselves, and what infer- 



190 BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



ence would j^ou draw ? What wo^ld be the sig- 
nificance of these various lives! Would it not "be 
severally, " How much of this world can I gain ? 
What positions can I reach ? What pleasures can 
I secure ? What self-gratifications ? What social 
enjoyments ? What mental treasures ? Or wdiat 
can I do for those I love V 7 Every wish, every 
hope is bounded by an earthly horizon. 

But those upon whom God's light and guid- 
ance shine, who look at this life in its true sig- 
nificance, have a higher purpose and a nobler 
end. There is something beyond the present 
passage. There is a celestial landing and a song 
of victory. Beyond this exodus and its boundary 
river, there is a land of promise and plenty, of 
beauty and glory. There is here a God to be 
recognized, loved and served ; there is a Saviour 
who died for us, a redemption to be secured ; a 
soul to be saved, an everlasting life in reserve ; 
and this present state is the preparation-period. 
This life is a school for heaven. It has a nobler, 
grander purpose than earth or self. How shall 
I reach a glorious immortality ? How can I save 
others, or so influence them that they shall not 
fail of life's true and blessed purpose ? I put 
myself on the side of God, and in the light and 
guidance of His Pillar of Cloud and Fire. There 
only am I safe, and in the best sense useful. 



THE PILLAR OF CLOUD. 



191 



V. Death and Eternity. Look at tlieni 
from these opposite points. Are they not cloud 
and darkness to the unbeliever ? Is there any 
relief from their Cimmerian gloom ? any star of 
hope in that night ? any joyous prospect beyond 
the shadowy valley ? Is the traveler cheerful 
and happy as he approaches the boundary-line ? 
Does the spirit plume its wings for an eagle- 
flight to the realm of eternal summer and sun- 
shine with God and the holy of all ages ? or does 
it sink in death and darkness, shattered and de- 
stroyed, like an old hulk after its last voyage ? 
What is the testimony ? Rev. Dr. Gardiner 
Spring says : " I have seen universalists and 
infidels die, and during a ministry of fifty-five 
years, I have not found a single instance of peace 
and joy in their views of eternity. No, nothing 
but an accusing conscience and the terrors of ap- 
prehension. I have seen men die who were men 
of mercurial temperament, men of pleasure and 
fun, men of taste and literature, lovers of the 
opera and the theater rather than the house of 
God ; and I never saw an instance in which such 
men died in peace. They died as they lived. 
Life w 7 as a blank and death the king of terrors ; 
a wasted life, an undone eternity." 

While all is shadow and gloom, reluctance and 
terror, to the unbeliever, in view of his departure 



192 EJEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



to the world of spirits and the presence of God ; 
to the Christian, there is the light of hope, the 
peace of trust, the joyous sense of a present 
Saviour, the sweet song of victory, the bright 
prospect of a heavenly home. John Foster, in 
writing to a friend, said : " I congratulate you 
and myself that life is passing fast away. What 
a superlatively grand and consoling idea is that 
of death ! Without this radiant idea, this delight- 
ful morning star, indicating that the luminary of 
eternity is going to rise, life would, in my view, 
darken into midnight melancholy. Thanks to 
that fatal decree that dooms us to die ! thanks to 
that gospel which opens the vision of an endless 
life ! and thanks above all to that Saviour friend 
w r ho has promised to conduct all the faithful 
through the sacred trance of death, into scenes 
of Paradise and everlasting delight." Not only 
to the aged but to the youthful Christian as well, 
death is disarmed and the bright world beyond 
has w r onderful attractions. In one of our New 
England villages a little boy was lying upon his 
death-bed, when suddenly raising himself he ex- 
claimed, " Mother, mother ! I see such a beautiful 
country, and so many little children who are 
beckoning me to them ; but there are high moun- 
tains between us — too high for me to climb ; 
who will carry me over ?" He leaned back upon 



THE PILLAR OF CLOUD. 



193 



his pillow apparently in deep thought; when 
once more he partially rose, and stretching forth 
his little hands, he cried as loud as his feeble 
voice would permit, u Mother, mother ! the Strong 
Man's come to carry me over the mountains 
then fell peacefully asleep, to awake in the beau- 
tiful land that dawned upon his vision. We 
have seen some of our dear ones die in the faith 
— in the love and peace of Jesus; andw r e could 
not but feel that what was an event of inexpress- 
ible sorrow to us, was to them an introduction 
to joys that are unspeakable and full of glory. 
Ours is the weight of bereavement, trial, toil, 
and grief; but theirs the raptures of heavenly 
bliss. Ours, the conflicts and weariness of this 
mortal state ; theirs, the song of victory and the 
crown of glory. 

The experience of God's people in every age 
confirms the truth of His word in regard to the 
rest and the blessedness that await them in their 
Father's house above. The experience of the 
unbelieving in view of their departure from earth 
into eternity also verifies the oft-repeated decla- 
ration of the Bible that neither light nor hope 
cheer their way to outer and eternal gloom. 
There are two camps as of old. On the one side 
there are light and guidance, victory and the bet- 



194 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



ter land ; and on the other side cloud and dark- 
ness, defeat and death. Brethren, what encour- 
agement you have to gird yourselves for the work 
and warfare of the Christian life, in view of the 
promised and rich reward ! Oh friends, not yet 
enlisted with the Chosen People, when will you 
so learn this great lesson of the ages and of to- 
day, as to make it a matter of instant practical 
and momentous interest to yourselves ? Has not 
the hour come for you to leave the enemy's camp, 
over which hangs impending doom, and by re- 
pentance of sin, and faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ, place yourselves among the friends and 
servants of God ? The gospel calls. The Saviour 
invites. The Spirit and the bride say, Come. 
Light shines from the guiding Pillar. How 
blessed the march to Canaan ! How glorious 
the song, how fair the landscape, how sweet the 
springs, how rich the fruits and clusters on the 
other side of Jordan ! 



THE PILLAR OF CLOUD AND FIRE. 

That mysterious column ! it hung from the sky ! 

The vanguard as Israel their exodus made; 
'Twas a wonderful thing to each upward turned eye — 

A presence divine — the Shekinah displayed ! 

As it moved in its grandeur, their course was discerned ; 

Its shadow, refreshing, soft over them lay; 
How resplendent its form as to crimson it turned, 

And night wore a beauty unknown to the day I 

In the midst of the Sea — its dark waters rolled back — 
The chosen go forward, walled billows between ! 

For they find in the depths solid ground for a track, — 
The marvelous Cloud brooding over the scene ! 

All defiant, the foe presses on in their path ; 

The Pillar, receding, the armies divides ; 
To Egyptian pursuers 'tis darkness and wrath ; 

On Israel's camp its bright glory abides I 

195 



196 BEST DA YS IN A JO UliNEY. 

m 

Full enswatlied in its radiance, the passage complete, 
They, grateful and safe on the welcoming shore, 

Lift their song to Jehovah — its chorus repeat — 
An anthem of triumph that rings evermore ! 

To the long journey's end, as the chosen of God 
To desert or mountain or river-bank came, 

In the places of rest, in the pathways they trod, 
Their guide was the Pillar of Cloud and of Flame. 

When the night-gloom was deepest, to them it gave light ; 

To nations opposed, it was darkness severe : 
So the light of God shines on the j)ure in his sight, 
While souls without faith grope in shadow and fear. 




WEST SIDE OF ST GILES'S, 



SERMON VIII. 



THE GALL AM THE RESPONSE, 



Atlantic Ocean. 



PEEFATOEY NOTES. 



UBING my second tour in Europe, I had the pleasant 



company, much of the time, of Eev. Dr. S. Graves of 



Grand Eapids, Mich., Dr. E. M. Snow of Providence, 
K. I., and the late Gen. A. Pilsbury of Albany, N. Y. 
The tour embraced a trip in Scotland from Edinburgh to 
Glasgow, Ayr, and northward along the Crinin and 
Caledonian canals to Inverness, and back by railway 
through the Highlands to Edinburgh. Thence we went 
to London, stopjjing at Melrose and York. We attended 
as delegates, the International Prison Congress ia 
London, July, 1872, where we met several distinguished 
persons from different parts of Europe, among them Sir 
John Bowring, Cardinal Manning, Earl of Carnavon, 
and Prince of Wales. While there we heard Rev. Mr. 
Spurgeon and Dr. W. Landels, and had pleasant inter- 
views with them. Afterward we went to Paris, Geneva, 
Berne, and other Swiss towns, and spent some days in 
traversing passes and climbing famous Alpine mountains, 
returning by Basle to Paris, London and Edinburgh. 

With my dear friends, the Douglases, I passed several 
delightful days, and then went to Liverpool, having 
secured a passage on the tine White Star Steamship 
Adriatic. On going to my state-room, I was glad to find 
as its other occupants Eev. Dr. Philip SchafT. and a Yale 
student. It was also pleasant to find several who were 
fellow-voyagers on the outward passage, and some others 
whom I knew. This homeward trip wns every way 




201 



202 



REST DA YS IN A JO URNJEY. 



delightful. The weather was fine, the sea generally calm, 
and the passengers social and agreeable — among whom 
were Ex- Gov. Holley of Connecticut, Judge Ward Hunt 
of Xew York, and lawyer Shearman of Brooklyn. We 
had several good entertainments, as lectures, poems, 
concerts, etc. We had two services on Sunday. On 
invitation I preached in the morning tne following 
sermon, Dr. SchafT reading the hymns, and Capt. Murray 
the church service. In the evening Dr. Schaff preached 
from John iii. 16. 

At the close of one of our pleasant evening entertain- 
ments, I read the following impromptu verses which 
seemed to give pleasure, and numerous copies of them 
were solicited. 

While now we have passed o'er the line of mid-ocean, 
And grandly sweep on through the foam, 

How sweet is each thought, with its tender emotion, 
Of loved ones we long for at home! 

And when they are filled, these dear hopes so ecstatic, 
We'll think of the voyage we have past ; 

O the bright happy days on the proud Adriatic 
Shall ever in memory last. 

These scenes and these friendships, thro' life's din and hurry, 

Shall linger as treasures of mind ; 
For surely we'll cherish our good Captain Murray, 

And officers genial and kind. 

And those who have sung for us, these who have spoken, 

Words, music enchannngly sweet, 
Shall all be remembered while years are unbroken, 

And hearts with affection shall beat. 



THE CALL AND THE RESPONSE. 



Preached on the White-Star Steamship Adriatic, 
on the Homeward Atlantic Voyage, 
Lord's Day, Sept. 1, 1872. 

Psalm xlii. 7. — deep caleeth unto deep. 

T is not the literal sea, storm-tossed, rolling, 
roaring, breaking, under clouds of darkness, 
that is in the Psalmist's mind, save as an il- 
lustration of the swelling emotions of the human 
heart stirred to its mighty depths. There are times 
when such a billowy sea and frowning sky are 
the fit emblem of the smitten or troubled soul. 
Yet from the searchless recesses within, the anx- 
ious spirit sends its cry into the dark and awful 
deep above. For Jehovah is there. His judg- 
ments are a great deep. He is a God that hideth 
Himself. Darkness is His secret place; His 
pavilion round about Him dark waters, and 
thick clouds of the skies. So to His dear servant 
David, God sometimes appeared ; and the bur- 
dened soul, from the abyss of its quenchless 

203 




204 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



desires, sent up its longings, aspirations and pray- 
ers to the infinite depths of the Divine nature, 
power and dispensations. In his absence from 
the house of prayer, the Psalmist's heart panted, 
thirsted for God. u Why art thou cast down, oh 
my soul ? and why art thou disquieted within 
me ? Hope thou in God ; for I shall yet praise 
Him for the help of His countenance. Oh my 
God, my soul is cast down within me : therefore 
will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, 
and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. Deep 
calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts : 
all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me." 

There are no deeps in this world so vast, so 
profound, so unfathomable, as those of the human 
soul. The Mediterranean Sea, whence David 
drew the figure of the text, has been sounded, 
and a cable stretched along its deep bed, amid 
wrecks and pearls, as a channel for human 
thoughts. Men have dug far into the earth in 
their search for treasur s. But who has found 
the lowest stratum of thought or feeling or ca- 
pacity of the human spirit ? Ah, there are deeps 
there unknown even to its possessor. And there 
are wrecks and pearls, too, along which go 
thoughts, struggling, swelling, aspiring, and call- 
ing, in a felt weakness, dependence and need, to 
" the deep things of God." And how profoundly 



THE GALL AND THE RESPONSE. 205 



and infinitely deep the Divine nature, attributes 
and purposes ! " Who by searching can find out 
the Almighty V J No words can express the vast- 
ness of this idea, the depths of God's being, God's 
thoughts, God's designs. But the deep in man 
may and does call to the deep in God. Our 
human nature has a powerful yearning for the 
Divine. The filial, loving soul says : 

" My God, my life, my love, 
To thee, to thee I call : 
I cannot live, if thou remove, 
For thou ait all in all." 

And to such a soul, to every soul that truly, sin- 
cerely calls, there is a gracious response, a blessed 
answer. It does not call in vain. Out of that 
great upper deep comes a voice to cheer, and a 
hand to help. What are some of those conditions 
and circumstances of life, when the text fits into 
our own experience — when the soul longs, aspires; 
cries for light, help and life in God ? 

One of these conditions and experiences is, I 
apprehend, when there first comes to the mind, 
a deep sense or consciousness of alienation from 
God. The soul begins to perceive its own dis- 
quietude and unrest ; its condition of spiritual 
orphanage, and separation from its heavenly 



206 



BEST BAYS IN A JOURNEY. 



Father. Along with this feeling there is the 
yearning desire, though it may not be expressed, 
to have this barrier to holy and peaceful fellow- 
ship with God removed. Emotions, thoughts, 
longings are kindled and active down in the 
depths of the immortal spirit. There they lin- 
ger, now apparently slumbering, and now power- 
fully energetic, almost irrespressible, in their 
strong and earnest wish for something that only 
God can give. Oh that there might be a realiza- 
tion of that of which the need is so deeply felt ! 

How early in life these emotions, so profound, 
so sacred, so solemn, exist and are cherished. 
They live in the young mind. They dwell there 
like influences, like persuasive voices, from other 
worlds, like seeds of eternity springing up and 
growing in our spiritual nature, permeating and 
energizing all its powers. Go back to your child- 
hood, and think over its thoughts, recall its mem- 
ories, cherish again its emotions and aspirings, 
and you will find this confirmed in your own 
experience. There are great deeps even in a 
a child's soul, where solemn thoughts and images 
of God spring; where vivid ideas of spiritual 
things, eternal realities, and future existences 
abound ; and where there are unutterable long- 
ings and desires toward the Infinite. The very 
crude, indistinct and even erroneous conceptions 



THE CALL AND THE RESPONSE. 2u7 



of these things, often show how real, how strong, 
and how influential they are. If the experience 
of our childhood in regard to God, to sin, to 
death, to heaven and hell, were wntten out, how 
curious, how interesting, how instructive the 
chapters of that histoiy would be ! Those early 
prayers and desires would show the deeps of the 
soul calling to the deeps of the Divine Being. 
What we felt and now dimly remember, others 
are feeling to-day. Let these dear children tell 
us what they think, how they feel, how they 
pray at times, and what their longings sometimes 
are towards God and heaven, and we should find 
wondrous things hidden in the depths of their 
hearts. But they never do, they never will, 
they never can tell half of their experience in 
these things. We sometimes overhear their con- 
versations about them. Not a few have felt as 
did the Prodigal Son, a sense of loss and depriva- 
tion, a beginning to be in want, a desire to go to 
their Father's house. Ah ! these youth and chil- 
dren, that boy and girl, have reflected and wept, 
it may be, and prayed and longed to make known 
their thoughts and desires, but could not, dared 
not, except it were perhaps in solitude to God. 
Oh there are in the silent depths of the young- 
soul, callings, utterances, inaudible and noiseless, 
yet real and strong, rising up toward the infinite. 



208 



REST DAYS IN A JO URNEY. 



It is childhood, weak and helpless, under its early 
consciousness of alienation, crying for its Father 
and God. 

There is a difference in respect to these calls, 
wide and marked. Some are the expressions of 
true prayer from penitent believing hearts. Such 
souls realize what they ask and long for. They 
come to God. They give themselves up to the 
lead and love of Jesus, and so become true 
children of their Heavenly Father. Their pray- 
ers are heard and answered, and so they come 
into the household of God and are at rest and 
happy. 

Others call, but it is only the overflow of their 
emotions, the expression of their sympathetic 
natures — prayers, desires, that do not go from 
earnest, persistent, trusting hearts, with a giving 
up of the world and a sweet loving faith in 
Christ. Longings for the better good are not 
followed out. There is a call to God, but not a 
going to Him. The deeps in the soul cry out in 
their imperfect sense of want ; but there is not a 
readiness to have God come and fill those deeps 
with His presence and grace. No — there is a 
stronger desire for the world to come in and take 
possession. Has not this been the experience of 
some of you ? 



THE CALL AND THE RESPONSE. 209 



Another condition where the text fits into hu- 
man feeling is that of poiverful conviction of sin. 
Then the overwhelmed and sinking spirit out of 
its depths calls upon God for help and deliverance. 
From the verge of despair and ruin, guilty, con- 
demned and perishing, it cries in its extremity 
and as its last hope for mercy, to Christ the only 
Saviour. Oh what a call, what a prayer is that, 
what an earnest, agonizing, outgoing and uplifting 
of the poor, broken, humbled heart, when it 
casts itself as a helpless, worthless thing into the 
arms of bleeding mercy ! What crying supplica- 
tion is that, when a sin-burdened soul comes to 
the foot of the cross and says, " Lord, save, or I 
paish" It is deep calling unto deep. Many 
do not find out till such a time what depths of sin 
their hearts contained. The heavens frowning, 
the billows of conviction rolling as if to engulf 
them, they perceive the truth of God's word by 
the prophet : 66 The wicked are like the troubled 
sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up 
mire and dirt." A life in opposition to the will 
of God ; trampling upon His unfailing mercies ; 
forgetful of His constant goodness ; rejecting His 
most reasonable claims ; disregarding His holy 
Word, breaking His law and spurning His gospel; 
turning away from the Person and pleadings of 
His Son; repeatedly grieving His Holy Spirit; 



210 



REST DA YS IX A JO UBNEY. 



slighting opportunities given in forbearing love ; 
remaining unmoved under the messages, warn- 
ings and prayers of His servants. Oh, when all 
this is seen in light from eternity, disclosing the 
infinite holiness of God. how does the soul sink 
under its many and aggravated offences ! What 
ingratitude ! what thoughtless heaven-daring folly 
and presumption ! The sinner looks into the 
deeps of his wicked, miserable heart, and sees 
himself a subject of God's righeous wrath, and 
only tit for it, as he stands on the verge of perdi- 
tion. The depths of hell are calling for him, and 
seem opening to receive him. But he can not 
escape. He has exhausted all his resources. He 
can work out no righteousness to satisfy his con- 
science, or to robe him for the presence of God. 
No safety, no release, no peace comes. He is as 
one wrecked in the sea, and sinking in the yawn- 
ing billows. But. in his extremity, he cries to 
the only source of help. Ah ! it is that cry, that 
deep calling unto deep, a voice of prayer and 
faith from the depths of a sinful soul, reaching 
the depths of mercy and salvation in Christ that 
avails and brings relief. Then the stormy agita- 
tion ceases and Jesus says to the winds and waves, 
Be still ! Oh what a blessed response to the soul 
from the depths of infinite mercy and grace ! To 
know that there is a mighty Saviour in such an 



THE CALL AND THE RESPONSE. 211 



hour ) to be able to call upon Him and realize 
His aid ; to haye Him come and deliver, and .or- 
give, and bestow His love and comfort — is there 
any blessing that can compare with it ? How 
many p >or, perishing souls at such an hour have 
found Him just such a matchless Friend — have 
called to Him, and the saving response has come. 
How many, since the publican cried for mercy ; 
since the leper's prayer was answered, " I will, 
be thou clean since blind Bartimeus effectually 
called ; since the Syrophoenician woman said, 
u Help me f 9 since the thousands at the day of 
Pentecost cried out in the conviction of sin, and 
were directed to Christ ; since Saul of Tarsus, 
prostrate at the feet of Jesus prayed, "Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do?" — since the 
Philippian jailer cried, " What must I do to be 
saved V ' — how many have heard the blessed re- 
sponse of redeeming mercy ! Oh, if there were 
no Saviour in those great deeps of God above, to 
whom our soul-depth calls, how unavailing would 
be our cries, how hopeless our doom ! Happy is 
he who calls and calls till the gracious response of 
pardon and peace comes. Some there are even 
under pungent conviction of sin who, not calling 
upon and yielding to Christ, call to other things — 
deeps of sinful pleasure, of dark unbelief, of dread 
waters that drown men's souls in perdition. 



212 



REST DA YS IN A JO UBNJEY. 



Another condition in which the text fits our 
experience is that of bereavement and trial. The 
tempted, struggling and sorrowing soul, in its 
deep fears and heaving emotions, agitated and 
anxious, cries out to God, to lift off the burden, 
to roll back the overwhelming waves, to assuage 
the swelling griefs, or impart strength and grace 
to the sinking, troubled heart. The Psalmist had 
sore afflictions. Great trials weighed down his 
spirit. But in them all, and far away from the 
house and people of God, he did not forget his 
almighty Eefuge. He turned his thoughts toward 
Him whose judgments are a great deep, and who 
does not willingly afflict nor grieve the children 
of men ; who had sustained and comforted him 
in the past, and whose unchanging love and pro- 
tection he could still share. The troubled deeps 
of his soul cried out in confidence and hope to 
Him, in whom he knew there were depths of 
mercy and consolation that no human want could 
exhaust. Ah ! those terrible bereavements that 
sometimes come to us, how even for a long time 
after they occur the effect now and then is like a 
great overwhelming wave that seems to bury us 
under its dark oppressive flood. Our very selves 
have gone into the grave with those we loved. 
And if it were not for Jesus walking upon the 
sea, and coming to us through the darkness with 



THE CALL AtfD THE RESPONSE. 213 



His soothing voice of peace and comfort, what 
could we do f God's children have often been 
afflicted. What persecutions, losses, conflicts, 
trials some of them have suffered for the name of 
Christ. What disappointments, heart-sorrows, u 
unknown to the world, strivings against the ills 
of life, heavy burdens of their lot with little of 
human help and sympathy. They adopt the 
words of the Psalmist, " Out of the depths have I 
cried unto thee, Lord." But in all this how have 
their souls gone out in supplication and longing 
to God, in tender and loving sympathy with 
Christ, whose woes and griefs were greater than 
ours, and whose consolations and supports are 
most ample for all our need. Deep calleth unto 
deep ; nor is the call in vain. The tempted find 
strength. The afflicted are solaced. The mourn- 
ers are comforted. The weak are made strong. 
The desponding begin to rejoice. See Jacob 
prevailing at Peniel ; Moses as he prayed between 
the living and the dead, intercepting the thunder- 
bolts of wrath ; Job in a sublime patience that 
brought its reward; Elijah and Daniel answered 
in miracles; our Lord Himself in the garden, and 
Satan vanquished ; the church in supplication and 
Peter delivered ; and Paul and Silas in midnight 
prayer set free. The martyrs have cried, How 
long, Lord ! and not in vain ; parents for erring 



214 



REST DAYS IJSJ A JOURNEY. 



children ; churches for revivals ; servants of God 
suffering cruel injustice — Bunyan in jail ; Judson 
in prison — Oh how many in the depths of their 
souls have appealed to the depths of the Divine 
mercy and power, and found deliverance or all- 
sufficient grace. 

" What though the floods lift up their voice, 
Thou nearest, Lord our louder cry; 
They can not damp thy children's joys, 
Or shake the soul when God is nigh." 

There is another condition and extremity — the 
dying hour — when deep calleth unto deep ; when 
the trusting soul lifts up its desires and hopes con- 
fidently to God through the grace of Christ. 
Then is the conflict with the last enemy. Then 
the soul stands on the confines both of earth and 
heaven. Then the believer commits himself to 
the swellings of Jordan. Solemn hour ! when 
weakness hangs on immortal strength ; when 
death looks longingly to life ; when the Christian 
triumphs in his departure, and the savor of victory 
and immortality hallows the sacred calm of the 
last sleep. Say, is not our holy faith a glorious 
thing, as it enables us to look from the deep valley 
of the shadow of death with serene confidence to 
the light and glory of the eternal hills ! from the 
crumbling tabernacle of this earthly house to the 



THE CALL AND THE RESPONSE. 215 



building of God, the house not made with hands! 
from the dark billows to the shining shore ! So 
Stephen, with a vision of heaven opened, called 
upon God, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 
So the great Apostle looked away into the deep 
realities and rewards of eternity, and cheerfully, 
hopefully and happily resigned this life and world, 
saying, I am now ready to be offered — I have 
fought a good fight, 1 have finished my course, I 
have kept the faith ; and he knew the righteous 
Judge would give him the crown. 

I might give instances, more than you have 
time to hear, of departing saintly souls calling to 
the depth of eternity, and finding it not dark and 
dread, but beautiful and radiant. Said one, 
a Glory to God! I see heaven sweetly opened 
before me !" Said another : " Oh, how this soul 
of mine longs to be gone, like a bird out of his 
cage, to the realms of bliss." Dr. Judson once 
said, " I am not tired of my work, neither am I 
tired of the world ; yet when Christ calls me 
home, I shall go with the gladness of a boy bound- 
ing away from school." Said Mrs. Hemans, the 
poetess, " I feel as if I were sitting with Mary at 
the feet of my Eedeemer, hearing the music 'of 
His voice." Lady Huntingdon said, " I shall go 
to my Father this night." And the dying injunc- 



216 BEST BAYS AV A JO URNEY. 



tion of the mother of the Wesleys w 7 as, u Chil- 
dren, when I am gone, sing a song of praise to 
God." So the followers of Christ leave these 
earthly scenes, with the glory of the summer land 
of song in view, calling, longing for the fathom- 
less depths of the blessedness of heaven. And 
how sweetly the voices from those upper deeps 
summon the Christian to his rest : " Child, your 
Father calls, come home." As the shadows of 
evening fall, we stand in the door of our dwell- 
ing, and call for our children in the street to come 
into the house. We want them with us. So our 
Father stands at the door of heaven, and looks 
with loving eye upon His children in the paths of 
their pilgrimage on earth, and He says to them at 
the evening of life, " Come up higher!" and all 
the family shall be there at length. God grant 
that we, fellow-voyagers together now, may all at 
last reach that heavenly home ! 



A MEMORIAL. 



When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee; 
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. 
Isaiah xliii. 2- 

Deep calleth unto deep ! The sky seems falling, 

Whelmed in wild sea and cloud ; 
And o'er the waste a sunset gloom appalling 

Shuts like an iron shroud. 

Saviour ! till on the waves thy form beholding, 

Our hearts find no release ; 
Come through the darkness all the world enfolding, 

And speak to us thy peace. 

Life's brightest hope, the gift most fondly cherished, 

Home's fairest, loveliest light, 
All, in this great bereavement, faded, perished — 

Day darkened into night. 

Didst thou, in hidden love, oh pitying Father ! 

Make in our hearts this dearth ? 
Or, for the happier home in glory rather, 

Long for thy child on earth ? 

217 



218 REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



Her life was beautiful iu rich completenes, 

Beyond her years so fair ; 
For heaven's pure dawniog such a radiant meetness, 

Like a full morning star. 

Her mind was peerless in its ample treasure 

Of varied gifts and grace : 
Wide fields of culture, with a lofty pleasure, 

'Twas hers with ease to trace. 

Wrapt in the tender folds of our affection, 

Her smile as sunlight fair, 
Her words, her presence, like heaven's sweet reflection; 

Can we the jewel spare ? 

By weeks of weariness and pain consuming, 

Pressed to the verge of life, 
Her trusting spirit, with an angel's pluming, 

Soared from the tranquil strife. 

The next grand moment, as at once awaking 
From wondrous dreaming strange, 

Within the gates, her raptured view is taking 
The City's glorious range. 

O, the sweet thrill of that survey celestial, 

The blessed Chkist to see ! 
With dear ones, known and loved in years terrestrial, 

Again with joy to be ! 



SERMON" IX. 



CHRIST'S WORK FOR THE HUMAN 
RAGE. 



At Sea, Offtlie West Coast of Ireland. 



PREFATORY NOTES. 



ATHIBD trip to Europe before the issue of this book 
allows the addition to it of another sermon preached 
abroad. This time my dear wife shared and enjoyed 
the journey with me. We left New York for Glasgow, 
July 14, 1881, on the steamship State of Indiana. We 
had for the most part fine weather and a very pleasant 
company of passengers, among them ten clergymen and 
several physicians. The voyage included two Sabbaths ; 
and though invited to preach on the first, I prefered to 
hear one of the several Methodist ministers on board. 
Eev. B. St. James Fry, D. D., of St. Louis preached. 
On the second Sabbath came the sermon here given 
while we were off the west coast of Ireland. Eev. S. D. 
McConnell of Middletown, Conn., read the English Church 
Service, and the hymns, " Rock of Ages, cleft for me," 
and *' Jesus, Lover of my soul," were sung. 

The next day we landed, and after looking about Glasgow 
went to Edinburgh and were heartily welcomed by our 
dear friends, Mr. T. G Douglas and family,, whose many 
kindnesses we shall always remember. We made various 
excursions, including trips to Lochs Katrine and Lomond, 
and to Melrose, Abbotsford and Dryburgh Abbey. We 
then went to London, stopping by the way at Leeds, 
York, Sheffield, Kettering and Bedford. At Mr. Burr's 
in London we found Mr. James Hay, Jr., wife and sister, 
of Woodstock, Ontario, delightful fellow- voyagers on the 
Atlantic, and with them we visited places of interest in 

223 



224 



BEST DA YS IN A JUORNEY. 



the city and vicinity and also went to Paris and Switzer- 
land. Returning to Edinburgh, we passed more pleasant 
days with our friends, and visited with Mr. and Mrs. 
Douglas dear Deacon Hugh Eose and daughter at their 
summer abode in Callander. 

On two Sundays in London we heard Mr. Spurgeon at 
his Tabernacle, and after one of these memorable services 
we had a precious interview with the great preacher. 
In Paris we had the pleasure of hearing a sermon from 
Bishop M. Simpson of Philadelphia. In Edinburgh we 
attended a service at Dr. Horatius Bonar's church, and 
had a few pleasant words with him ; heard Rev. Mr. 
Muir, pastor of the Established Presbyterian church at 
Morningside, and I preached for him on a Sabbath in his 
absence. "We saw a son and daughter of Queen Victoria 
— the Duke of Edinburgh at Leith, and the Marchioness 
of Lome at our hotel in Berne. 

Taking leave of our beloved friends, Sept. 16th, we 
proceeded to Glasgow and embarked at evening on the 
State of Indiana. The next day we had a few hours at 
Larne, Ireland, giving us time to visit the village on a 
jaunting car. We were glad to find several of our out- 
ward-bonnd passenger-friends taking the homeward voy- 
age with us. On the first Sabbath I preached at the 
request of Capt. Saddler. This passage was long and 
exceedingly rough and tempestuous, some days the waves 
rolling " mountains high." The last evening on the 
steamship we had a pleasant literary entertainment. The 
first news, obtained from a pilot boat as we approached 
New York harbor, was the death of the lamented Pres- 
dent Garfield. 



CHRIST'S WORK FOR THE HUMAN 
RACE. 



Preached on the Steamship State of Indiana, on the 
Passage from New York to Glasgow, 
Sunday, July 24, 1881. 

John l. 9.— THAT WAS THE TRUE LIGHT, WHICH LIGHTETH EVER? 
MAN THAT COMETH INTO THE WORLD. 

OLD and broad is this declaration, and 
yet there are a number of other passages 
of similar import. Let me call your 
attention to them, and to the important truths 
that underlie them and constitute their real 
meaning. The passages are those that connect 
our Lord's life and work with the whole human 
race. I here name some of them. In announc- 
ing the Saviour's birth at Bethlehem, the angel 
said to the shepherds, " Behold, I bring you good 
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" 
When Jesus came to the Jordan to be baptized 
of John, the latter exclaimed, u Behold the Lamb 
of God which taketh away the sin of the world" 
In the night interview with Nicodemus, our Lord 
said, " God so loved the world that He gave His 




226 



REST DA YS IX A JO TJRNEY. 



only begotten Son f and again, " that the world 
through Him might be saved. 77 In the sixth chap- 
ter He said : " I am the living bread which came 
down from heaven ; if any man eat of this bread 
he shall live forever ; and the bread that I will 
give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of 
the world. 77 In chapter xii., referring to His death 
on the cross, He said : "And I, if I be lifted ur> 
from the earth, will draw all men unto me 77 

These are passages from the Gospels. We find 
similar ones in the Epistles. In Romans v. Paul 
says : "As by the offence of one judgment came 
upon all men to condemnation, even so by the 
righteousness of One the free gift came upon all 
men unto justification of life." In 1 Timothy we 
have the passages : "We trust in the living God, 
who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those 
that believe and, "who will have all men to be 
saved and to come unto the knowledge of the 
truth." InHebrewsii.it is written : "We see 
Jekus,who was made a little lower than the angels 
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory 
and honor, that He by the grace of God should 
taste death for every man 77 In 1 John ii. we find: 
" He is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for 
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole ivorld 77 

These passages surely teach us that Christ sus- 
tains a peculiar relation to the whole human race. 



CHRIST S WORK FOR THE RACJ1 227 



He has done something in His life and death for 
the benefit of all. He lightens every man that 
comes into the world, By God's grace His death 
touched every case ; and in some sense He 
takes away the world's sin. Men are in a differ- 
ent relation to God — on a better footing than 
they would have been if Christ had not come. 
What are these advantages ? How is every per- 
son as it were changed in his relations by what 
Christ has done and suffered ? This is wnat I 
shall attempt to show. 

But allow me to say, in passing, that these 
passages do not properly teach that all men 
will be saved. Some, anxious to make out such 
a doctrine from the Scriptures, have put this con- 
struction upon them. But they will not bear it. 
Other passages with which they stand, forbid this 
meaning. The general, obvious tenor of the Bible 
is against it. Its teaching is so clear and impres- 
sive in respect to the future life and rewards, that 
the few passages I have quoted, while they over- 
flow with the Divine benevolence and love, and 
show that the scheme of redemption affects the 
relations of the whole race, yet they do not assure 
us that all men will be saved. The Scriptures 
every where speak of conditions of salvation. 
There must be regeneration, faith, repentance, 
holy living, love to God, obedience to Christ. 



228 BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 

Character, meetness for Heaven must come into 
the account. The Bible speaks of some that are 
lost eternally, that never obtain forgiveness, for 
whom it would be better not to have been born, 
that shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven. So 
there may be a Saviour for all people, an influence 
from Christ and His death that shall reach all, 
every man, and God in His infinite love may 
desire all men to be saved and to come to the 
knowledge of the truth ; and yet some may fail 
of eternal life by failing to meet the conditions of 
salvation. The state, the city, the town, may 
provide educational advantages for every child, 
every youth, and still some may neglect them and 
grow up ignorant. A kind father may do every 
thing needful and more for the welfare of his 
children ; but some of them may not appreciate 
his kindness, and so fail of its benefits. 

One way in which an influence from Christ 
reaches every person in the world, is that of 
securing for each a Probation or day of grace. 
The first sin deserved condign punishment. If 
full justice had been meeted out at once, the race 
would have been swept out of existence, or left 
hopeless on the face of the earth. In the day of 
their transgression they would have perished. So 
"God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast 



CHRIST S WORK FOR THE RACE. 229 

them down to hell." With the human race God 
chose to deal differently. He had devised a plan 
of redemption. This gracious economy required 
a probation. Under it, sentence against an evil 
work is not speedily executed. There is divine 
forbearance, patience, long-suffering. But this is 
all in consequence of the mediatorial work of 
Christ. So far He takes away the sin of the 
world, or delays the consequences of sin, that all 
men may have a space for repentance. Christ has 
given His life for the world in that the world is 
spared from immediate destruction. Men live, 
each has his period of probation on earth, because 
Christ has lived here. He stands between 
God and the speedy execution of justice upon 
the guilty, as Moses stood between the living and 
the dead and stayed the plague. Let every per- 
on know that he lives, goes about his business, 
has his allotted time on earth ; and so all the 
complicated affairs of this great world go on, and 
men develop their characters as they will or 
please, because we live under a redemptive econ- 
omy through Christ. Do not forget, my friends, 
that you owe your very life to Christ. Each day, 
every opportunity is a gift from Him. He is the 
natural and intellectual and probational light of 
every man that cometh into the world. 



230 



BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



In this view, again, Christ benefits the entire 
race, inasmuch as all our Temporal Blessings are 
the result of His mediation. All over the wide 
world whatever is fitted to augment human com- 
fort and happiness ; whatever delights the eye, 
rejoices the mind, enraptures the heart, or inno- 
cently gratifies the senses, ennobles the faculties, 
and makes life a possession to be desired and en- 
joyed — all this comes to us and to all men through 
the Son of God. He procured them by His medi- 
ation. He purchased them by His life. As a 
king scatters gifts among the people on the way 
to his coronation and throne, so Christ, in His 
triumphal march from the first promise of a Sav- 
iour to the final consummation of his gracious 
kingdom, through symbol and prophecy and actual 
advent and intercession, scatters among men in 
all the human generations, every temporal blessing 
they enjoy. From hence is every good and per- 
fect gift. Forget not, O friend, that every 
thing valuable, every thing precious, every thing 
dear to yon in this world, with all the possibili- 
ties of existence here, w r as procured for you by 
the Lord Jesus Christ, your and the world's 
Redeemer. 

Again, Christ, by what He has done, sets the 
whole race of man in A New axd Favorable 
Attitude towards God. He lifts them up from 



CHRISrS M ORE FOR THE RACE. 231 



the hopelessness of the Fall. He breaks the deep 
night of despair. He flings a heavenly radiance 
into the very darkness of death. He takes all 
men out of the prison-house of doom, and sets 
them on the vantage-ground of a new trial full 
of hope and life. So He lifts up our fallen race, 
and draws all men toward Himself. So far the 
propitiation of the cross was a propitiation for 
the sins of the whole world. In the conflict of 
Gethsemane there might be a victory for every 
man. In the death-pang of Calvary there might 
be a life- warrant for every condemned soul. The 
crimson stream from the cross might purify every 
sin-defiled heart. " It is finished" was the an- 
nouncement of a redemption sufficient for every 
case. So far does the Lamb of God take away the 
sin of the ivorld. The iron grasp of sin is broken. 
It is no longer necessarily fatal. This appalling 
aspect of it is taken away. Death is tasted for 
every man in the cup of Golgotha. Salvation is 
free for the world. The Jew and the Gentile are 
welcome. The civilized and the barbarian, the 
Parthian and the Scythian, the learned and the 
ignorant — the high up and the low down in the 
human scale — whosoever will, let him come and 
partake freely. God is no respecter of persons ; 
but in every nation he that fears Him and works 
righteousness is accepted of Him. 



232 BEST DA YS IN A JO UBKEY. 



It is a grand thought, Christ giving Himself, 
His life for the world, and so lifting up every man 
of our race from a hopeless, helpless state, and 
bringing him within reach of eternal life. To 
what high privileges it introduces us ! What 
matchless possibilities it places before us ! That 
Child in the manger of Bethlehem was set for the 
rising of many. What a hold upon our wrecked 
humanity Christ got when He took our nature, 
when God was manifest in the flesh, when He 
came down to every man's lowest condition. The 
poor, blind and wretched heathen,if he but thought 
of God and saw Him in the sun, the stars, the 
forest or the flower, and felt his own sinfulness, 
and longed for pardon, and wandered if his soul 
might rest in some pure and happy home with 
God — if there were in him a disposition to live 
up to the light already given, and to receive the 
Christ that might be revealed — such an one, no 
doubt, in virtue of the atonement would be saved. 
Many such we believe are saved. And the most 
enlightened soul must accept the same Saviour in 
the Gospel, if he would enter heaven. The little 
child just thinking and reading of Jesus can be 
gathered in the arms of the Good Shepherd; and 
the strong man and veteran, to be saved, must 
find shelter in the same bosom of Infinite Love. 
O how near to Himself the lifted-up Christ has 



CHRIST S WORK FOR THE RACE. 233 

drawn all men ! He has brought them over what 
were otherwise a bridgeless gulf. He has taken 
them from a region of utter despair and set them 
in the border-land of hope and life. He has laid 
hold of the wrecked and stranded vessel of human- 
ity and lifted it upon a fairer sea and near a 
heavenly port. 

Another illustration of the way in which the 
work of Christ is a benefit to the entire human 
race, is its application to the Salvatiox of In- 
fants. We believe that all little children are 
saved who die before arriving to years of account- 
ability. They have not committed actual sin, nor 
incurred personal guilt. Offspring of a sinful 
race, they are yet safe within the folds and arms 
of Christ's sacrificial work. They are reached by 
that great and gracious provision. The Bible says 
but little on the subject — its truths are addressed 
to responsible agents — but what it does say ac- 
cords with our faith in the Divine goodness and 
the glory of a redemption that secures the salva- 
tion of infants. Those little budding flowers, early 
fading from earth, are brightly blooming in heaven. 
David's prophecy, " I shall go to him," is realized 
in the salvation and re-union of parent and child. 
The Shunammite's confidence, "It is w r ell," had in 
it heavenly hupe. When Jesus said we must "be 



234 BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 



converted and become as little children/' and "of 
such is the kingdom of heaven/ 7 our faith becomes 
assurance. Our little ones, no more with us, are 
with the Good Shepherd in Paradise. So all little 
children, in every age and place, thus early taken 
from earth — to the number of half the human 
race — are safe in heaven. And so all that live, 
while of such tender age, without idea of respon- 
sibility, are in a certain sense in a state of salva- 
tion. They are encompassed and embraced with 
the redeeming provisions of the Great Sacrifice. 
The whole race was involved in the catastrophe 
of Adam's sin. The whole race is benefited by 
the w r ork of the second Adam. He throws His 
loving arms about every child, who is safe, till 
there is personal sin and guilt. In this delightful 
view God in Christ is the Saviour of all men. 
But when infancy is past, years of accountability 
reached, and sins are committed, then Christ is 
the actual Saviour only of those who believe. 
Faith is the prerequisite of salvation to all who 
are capable of believing. What an interesting 
thought that Christ has taken us all in His arms 
of redeeming love and mercy, as He literally took 
the little children that were brought to Him and 
blessed them with prayer and benediction. You 
can hardly think that one of those who felt the 
Holy Hands upon its head, who remembered the 



CHRIST S WORK FOli THE RACE. 235 



scene or was frequently reminded of it by the 
loving mother who witnessed it, would afterwards 
grow up to persist in sin and unbelief, an enemy 
of Christ and a rejecter of His salvation. Is not 
your guilt as great and your condemnation as fear- 
ful, if you refuse to believe in Jesus, if you pre- 
fer the world to Him, turning away from the 
Voice that speaks from heaven ? 

The cradle at Bethlehem somehow represented 
all other cradles. TheDivine Infant there bore a 
peculiar relation to all other infants. The Holy 
Child Jesus, born of a human mother, in a sense 
sanctifies every birth, and is the Light that light- 
eth every man that cometh into the world. A 
higher value is given to the soul, a more precious 
interest clusters about it, from the fact of Christ's 
incarnation and the work He has wrought and 
the possibilities thus opened to all. The mother 
looks at her treasure in the cradle or the crib with 
a different feeling and a deeper hope, because the 
Son of Gi-od once lay in the manger. 0, if Jesus 
thus went down to our lowest weakness and 
went up with us through every stage to manhood, 
that He might know every need, share every 
feeling, and meet every want, giving His life for 
the w^orld, and drawing all men toward Himself ; 
how great must be the guilt that breaks away 
from such a Saviour, that counts His sacrifice as 



236 



REST DA YS IN A JO URNEY. 



worthless, and His salvation as inferior to the 
short-lived pleasures of sin. Lifted to such a 
height by the condescension of Christ, illumined 
by the light He imparts, your fall from thence, O 
unbeliever ! must be deeper than that of the first 
sin, and your darkness more dread and hopeless 
than its despair ! 

There is one more way in which Christ brings 
light and hope to all the human race. It is in 
the Provision of Mercy axd Grace in the 
Gospel, so rich, full, and free. It was this glori- 
ous view of redemption that led the beloved dis- 
ciple to say : "If any man sin, we have an Advo- 
cate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ; 
and He is the propitiation for our sins ; and not 
for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole 
world." A propitiation is such an intervention 
or sacrifice by Christ as provides for the canceling 
of sin and the reconciliation of the believer to God. 
The work of Christ, His whole work, in the 
scheme of human redemption, was necessary to 
the salvation of a single soul. Not one of our 
race could be reached and ransomed, but for the 
incarnation, touch, and work of Christ — but for 
His life on earth ; but for His sufferings in the 
garden ; but for His death on the Cross ; but for 
His resurrection, ascension, intercession and gift 



CHRIST S WORK FOR THE RACE. 237 



of the Holy Spirit. Think of the infinite outlay, 
that one lost sinner might be saved, that one poor 
child of Adam might be rescued from death eter- 
nal. Well may believers say, " We are bought 
with a price/' and esteem the treasure of redeem- 
ing grace a " great salvation." Every sinner's 
pardon cost the blood of the Son of God. No name 
could be written in the Book of Life but by the 
Hand that was nailed to the cross. It is impos- 
sible to show the full measure of the sacrifice or 
work requisite for the salvation of one soul, yours 
or mine. If there had been but one to be saved, 
nothing less than u Christ and Him Crucified," 
with all the infinite meaning of that phrase, could 
save that one soul. But the means that saves one 
may save another. And as the resources of grace 
are as boundless as the attributes of God, there is 
no limit to the redemption of sinners, but their 
own determined and persistent refusal to repent 
and believe. Paul says that in his case the chief 
of sinners was saved. Therefore the most hard- 
ened and guilty everywhere may be saved. The 
propitiatory offering that has availed for so many, 
and for most desperate cases, is sufficient in its 
provisions of mercy for all, for the sins of the 
whole world, It is adapted to men everywhere, 
of all nations, conditions, peculiarities. There is 
not a sinner on the face of the earth, whose case 



238 BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 

may not be fully met in the riches of grace in 
Christ Jesus. We may single out any soul any 
where and tell him most earnestly and truthfully, 
that salvation is provided for him, that the death 
of Christ was for him, that the invitations of the 
Gospel are to him, that God is just as sincere in 
desiring his salvation, just as good and gracious 
in providing a Saviour for him, as if he were the 
only soul in the universe that needed to be saved 
— -as if all the riches of redeeming love were for 
him alone ! 

You visit a building where there is an intricate 
and wonderful machine. It receives the rough, 
shapeless and soiled material, and delivers it in 
the form of a beautiful and useful fabric or uten- 
sil. You watch the operation. No matter how 
ugly, broken, shattered, ill-formed, or discolored 
the material, it comes out in every instance the 
shapely, fair, and beautiful object. Now the ma- 
chine that can make one of the^e transformations, 
if its capacity were sufficient, and if it did not 
wear out by use, could in time exhaust all the 
material supplied. This is a poor illustration. It 
does not sufficiently show the adaptation of God's 
plan of mercy to meet every case in a world of 
sinners. There is no exhausting the treasures of 
Divine grace; no limiting the power of God in 
the Gospel ; no measuring the extent of the 



CHRIST S M ORK FOR THE RACE. 239 



atonement, or abridging the ability of Him who 
can save to the uttermost, and whose grace that 
bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men in its 
glorious amplitude and its wonderful adaptation. 

The text, as thus opened, discloses to us the 
marvelous benevolence of God, the boundlessness 
of His love, the feelings of His infinitely compas- 
sionate heart toward men. God is love. He loves 
the world. He loves every soul of our sinful race, 
He longs for their salvation. He has made pro- 
vision sufficient for every case. The costliest 
price He has paid. He would have all men to 
be saved. He is not willing that any should per- 
ish. And those who do perish, go down to death 
resisting His will, rejecting His salvation, refus- 
ing the riches of His grace, spurning His unspeak- 
able gift, and trifling with His infinite love. He 
grieves over the course of such. His language 
is : u Hear, heavens, and be astonished, earth! 
for I have nourished and brought up children, and 
they have rebelled against me." 

• This theme furnishes what an encouragement 
to all who are laboring for the salvation of souls. 
What a Gospel we have to present to men — how 
ample, rich, complete ! It is adapted to every 
person. With what confidence can its acceptance 



240 BEST DA YS IN A JO UBNEY. 

be urged ! And what inspiring hope may well 
cheer the laborer ! 

Here, also, we recall the feet that salvation 
may be provided, and yet not be received. There 
may be, there is, a plenitude of grace and life, 
enough for every soul ; and yet some may fail of 
the blessing. God sends His sunlight and rain 
upon the just and the unjust, but some neither 
sow nor reap. " To you is the word of this sal- 
vation sent," but some of you may not welcome 
it. God has given you the power of choice. 
You can accept or you can reject the heavenly 
gift. You can build on the Rock or the sand. 
remember how essential it is that you take the 
water of life: that you lay hold on the hope set 
before you; that you believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. You must choose the good part or it never 
will be yours. 

Think, finally, what it must be to neglect a 
salvation so great and free. The loss must be in 
proportion. How deep the darkness of that soul 
that refuses to be pavingly illumined by the 
Light that lightens every man that cometh into 
the world ! 



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